Dark Ascension
by Insane Blight
Summary: What if Ranma’s life had been hell even before the training trip? And what if a certain psychotic Reikai Tantei happened to have stumbled upon the downtrodden boy?
1. A Date with Destiny

A Ranma ½ Yu Yu Hakusho Multi-crossover fanfiction

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Ranma ½ and Yu Yu Hakusho or any other anime/game titles. I just wish that I was a class S youkai… heh. :P

_"All I ever wanted was for her to be happy."_

**_Dark Ascension_**

_By Insane Blight_

_A Date with Destiny_

* * *

"Stop! Momma, it hurts!"

"You worthless child!" Nodoka Saotome shrieked as she continued to stomp on the head of her four year old child Ranma. As if that wasn't enough, she would proceed to smack his face until his mouth bled and then she'd throw his little body around the house like he meant absolutely nothing to her. "You… get out of my sight!"

Chibi-Ranma sobbed as he limply went to his cold, dark and desolate room, but even his young mind would agree that his lonely room was far more warm and comforting than anything else in this house. He opened the door, got on his bed and curled up as he cried his little heart out.

----

_"Poor kid, Nodoka sure hates his guts, huh?"_

_"Shhh! He might hear us!"_

_"So what if he does? With a father like that dumb fool Genma and that bitch of a mother Nodoka, I don't think that he'll even live to see his next birthday."_

_"You're right… I just hope he doesn't suffer too much…"_

----

He rocked his body back and forth while staring outside his window. No, those old ladies are wrong! His mommy loves him and so does his poppa! Mommy was just a little angry at him maybe because of something he did, he's sure that everything will be okay. Yes, everything will be alright… it will be alright…

It was never alright. His mother's anger grew each passing day along with the daily beatings she's giving him. And after those beatings, almost every night he would say the same thing to himself, trying to convince himself that his mother still loves him.

As time passed, he clung on tighter to that single thread of hope, that small prayer that everything will be fine someday… they would be a happy family just like the one that he saw across their house. But now it seems like a truly hopeless wish as his father wanted to take him away from their house for a very long time.

* * *

"Take him, take him to that trip as long as you like. Do whatever you want to the boy but be sure to make him a man among men like you promised, Genma." Nodoka said sweetly to her husband but her face soon changed to a scowl when her eyes fixed onto the five year old Ranma.

Chibi-Ranma shook in fear when he saw the scowl and immediately clung onto his father's shirt like his life depended on it. Genma noticed this and struck the boy with just enough force to cause him to lose his balance. "Be a man boy! I never recalled raising a weak little girl. Are you a man among men or not?"

"H-Hai poppa…" the blue-eyed youth timidly answered, bowing his head in an attempt to hide his tears. He shakily got up and ran upstairs to his room, with Genma right behind him.

Nodoka stood at the middle of the room, her scowl deepening with every second. "That child, he's more trouble than he's worth." she said with disgust.

Genma came downstairs a few minutes later, packed and ready to go with a crestfallen blue-eyed youth slowly following him. Nodoka had that cheerful expression once more when she said her goodbyes to her husband. Genma just nodded to her and quickly went outside the house, leaving a terrified Ranma alone with his so-called mother.

The auburn-haired woman turned towards the young child with a glare that could freeze hell all over. "What are you still doing here?! Get going! It'd be nice to not have the two of you around! Especially you, you filthy child!" she shrieked in absolute rage, slapping the boy until his cheeks were bright red.

Chibi-Ranma tried to hold back his emotions but it was a futile attempt as tears started to fall down his face, he really couldn't believe what he was hearing. Questions already started forming inside his mind ever since he could remember. Why does his own mother treat him like this? Did he do something to make her mad? Why does she hate him so much? Does she love him at all? All this time he kept these to himself but despite his young age, he knew that he had a right to know… he deserved to know the reason for her actions.

"Momma…? Wh-why are you so m-mad at me? Was it something I did wrong? I'll make it up to you momma, promise! I just wanna make you happy momma…" he said through sobs.

"You want to make me happy?" she asked incredulously. She cupped her son's chin and stared directly into his teary blue eyes. "Then disappear from my sight! Why can't you get a clue, you idiot? I never wanted to have you, I never wanted to raise you and frankly I just wish that you have never been born. You want to make me happy? Then go with your father and never come back!" she yelled with absolute contempt towards the wide-eyed youth.

_'Momma… doesn't want me…?' _was the only thing going through his mind. He never did notice his mother kicking and stomping at him a few times on the head or the fact that she threw him outside the house like a rag doll, with no concern for his well-being whatsoever. He just remained frozen in shock; his eyes were as hollow as can be, as if all life has been snuffed out of his little body.

Genma smacked Chibi-Ranma on the head for 'making his mother mad'. He grabbed the boy's white gi and promptly walked out of their house, perhaps for the last time.

* * *

"I don't want to poppa, it's wrong to take something that's not yours." Chibi-Ranma said softly, his voice was but a mere whisper.

**Slap!**

Ranma was thrown back by the force of the slap. He placed a hand on his cheek and looked up to his father with tearful eyes. "Poppa…?"

"Boy, how many times do I have to tell you? It's training boy! It's training! Can't you get that trough your thick head? No wonder your mother wants nothing to do with you, you really are a silly little girl!" Genma yelled.

The young boy's eyes widened. _'Momma… said that? No! I am not a little girl!' _"I'll do it poppa! I'll be someone that mommy will be proud of!" he declared with renewed vigor, ignoring the tiny voice that was telling him that what he is doing his wrong.

Genma patted the boy's back. "That's my boy! You've taken a huge step in your training! Your mother will be so proud of you when we return!"

* * *

"No more poppa! I can't do it anymore!" an eight year old Ranma pleaded to his father. His hands and feet were already bloody from the training Genma was forcing him to go through and now his father wants him to break a large boulder with only his bare hands.

Genma scowled and punched Ranma in the face, instantly breaking his nose. "Boy, you will do as you're told! Now stop whining like a weak little girl and continue with your training!"

Ranma wiped a few tears from his eyes and nodded in response. He never could stand up against him, last time he did that, his father broke one of his arms as a form of punishment for being an 'ungrateful child'. So he could only follow his orders, no matter how impossible they may be and if he fails to do it, his father would beat him senseless until he tired himself out. It was even worse when Genma was drunk.

This cycle continued for the next few years, and every time it happens, a small part of the innocent, blue-eyed boy would go with it. He suddenly became aware of the truth… his mother would never come for him, she would be happy if he were to die in this trip. He was sure that no one else will come to his aid, no one cared at all.

Sometimes at night, he'd curl up on the floor, rock his body back and forth and hum a little lullaby that he made for himself. There was nothing strange in that except for the fact that he would occasionally smile as he did those things. A smile that will send shivers down the spines of those that would see it.

* * *

A ten year old Ranma stared at the dark pit with a cheerful smile. His father was currently wrapping his body in fish sausages all the while making sure that he cannot move his little body.

"That's my boy! You'll learn the Nekoken in no time with that attitude!" Genma said as he beamed at his smiling son. _'He's my son alright! Make your father proud boy!'_

Ranma squealed in delight when Genma pushed him down onto the pit full of starving cats. He laughed while the cats bit, gnawed and clawed at him. Tears flow down his eyes as the cats continued their assault on his food-covered body. A slash here, a nibble there, he really doesn't care anymore. He just hope that his little friends would kill him soon enough, he can't wait to die!

That's why he snarled when he noticed that he was being raised back up the pit. He glared at his father with those vicious eyes and ordered him to send him back which of course, Genma interpreted along the lines of 'my boy is so brave, he wants to go and do it again!' speech. He quickly wrapped the boy in another kind of food product and was about to throw him back inside when he felt a very powerful presence suddenly appear behind him.

"This is interesting… torturing a child in such an 'inhuman' manner. I believe it only proves that I'm right all along."

* * *

Genma turned around and saw a tall, long-legged man with slicked black hair and with a noticeable dot on his forehead. He was wearing a dark blue jacket, black pants and black shoes. Now Genma is as stupid as stupid can be, but even he can't deny the fact that this man standing right infront of him emitted power the likes of which he has never seen. He knew that his power pales in comparison the moment he set his eyes on the figure. He tightened his grip on the boy and slowly began to take a few steps backwards.

"Oh please, don't stop on my account. I'd like to see how you torture that child a little more, come on, don't be shy. I'm just here to get a better look." The man said in a slightly amused tone all the while smiling innocently at the bald martial artist. He took a step forward and peeked inside the pit. "That's a lot of cats… more than enough for a Nekoken victim actually." he commented dryly.

Genma immediately went over to dark-haired man's side, totally ignoring the 'victim' part. "You know the secret of the Nekoken? Please tell me so my ungrateful boy can finally learn the technique!"

"Either you have no remorse whatsoever or you're just plain stupid. The Nekoken can never be fully learned, it was never meant to be a fighting technique to begin with. It was designed by the higher demons of Makai as a means of punishment to some of the lower level youkai and to a few stray humans…" he trailed off, hoping that this idiotic human understood at least the first part of his words.

For his part, Genma looked dumbfounded by the explanation, especially the last part but he shrugged it off. "So… my boy can still learn it right? He can still master it right? Oh well, I'll just drop him in there over and over again until he gets it right. He's a man among men so he'll make it."

The dark-haired man's face darkened slightly, as if he was being possessed by another person. He chuckled to himself as he unleashed some of his aura, which was more than enough to scare the bald man silly thus forcing him to run for his life, leaving a confused Ranma behind. The man's stoic demeanor suddenly changed into a manic one, he raised his right hand, aimed it towards the fleeing martial artist and then…

**Bang!**

Genma screamed as a projectile went right through his leg, forcing him to fall flat on his face. He tried to stand up but another projectile struck his lower back and out his stomach, spilling blood all over the ground.

"Ki Kou Juu… works well on human filth, doesn't it fat man?" The dark haired man grinned maniacally, admiring the gun attached on his right wrist. He looked at Genma and he couldn't help but chuckle darkly, time for some fun!

**Bang! Bang! Bang!**

The man had a wide grin on his face. "Isn't this FUN? I bet you're enjoying this just like how that boy enjoyed being thrown into that pit! What's that? You want more, huh? I'm always happy to oblige!"

Ranma, who was curled up on a corner, watched the scene in front of him with a disturbingly happy smile. He laughed wholeheartedly every time he heard Genma's screams of agony. Ranma was focused on watching the beating of his father so much that he didn't notice a figure appearing beside him. Said figure raised an eyebrow at the troubled child before looking at the beat down his partner was giving the so-called martial artist.

**Bang! Bang!**

Genma convulsed as he spat out large amounts of blood from his mouth. So far, he has been shot once on both arms and legs, twice in the stomach and once in his left shoulder. He was bleeding profusely, spilling blood all over the ground. "P-Please…" He was obviously in great pain as he spoke. "Don't kill me… take the boy… take him in exchange for my life." he pleaded.

The man laughed at Genma's feeble attempt to save his own hide, he loved hearing those words from people's mouths and he had to admit, this one had to be the most pathetic display he has ever seen in quite awhile. "You really are for real. You really would do anything to save yourself… just like the rest of them. Tell you what, why don't I just kill both of you? It would certainly save me a lot of trouble not to mention that it will truly make my day." he said coldly, placing his foot on Genma's neck and pointing his gun to the martial artist's head.

"Say hi to Koenma for us…"

**Bang!**

* * *

The dark-haired man smirked as he stared at Genma's bloody corpse. He chuckled darkly before turning towards Ranma and the man standing next to him. "Interesting reaction from the kid huh, Itsuki? I just killed his father and all he does is laugh and smile at the whole thing." he said, poking the kid's head with his gun.

"It seems that he's been traumatized a great deal Sensui and I have a feeling that it's not just from the Nekoken torture." Itsuki calmly explained.

Sensui glanced at Itsuki with his manic grin. "Eheheheh… is that so? Then we should spare him the suffering he'll go through and just kill him right here." He poked Ranma on the head once more but the kid didn't even react. "Don't worry kid. It'll all be over soon."

He pointed the gun at Ranma's head but the boy just smiled cheerfully at him, making him twitch a little in irritation. He was about to fire when he suddenly jerked his head up and looked blankly at the sky. His eyes then widened in shock and he sneered to nobody in particular. "You want me to what?! Are you out of your mind Sensui?!" he yelled angrily to himself.

There was silence for a moment. "Are all of you okay with this? Alright… fine! Don't blame me if you start to have regrets on your decision." he scoffed as he stood up straight and closed his eyes. Sensui's maniacal face was now replaced with a serene one, he knelt infront of Ranma and patted him on the head. "What's your name kid?"

The blue-eyed youth bowed his head and timidly answered. "R-Ranma…"

Sensui smiled. "Ranma, I know what you're thinking right now. You wanted to kill that man yourself, right?" he asked in a soft voice. His smile turned into a full-blown grin when the boy nodded his head. "Do you want to make humans like that pay for their crimes? Do you want to be the one to punish them? Do you want to be the one to kill them?"

Ranma looked into Sensui's eyes, the boy's gaze looks as if it was trying to read his very soul. As if being driven by some unknown force, the boy smiled and nodded enthusiastically to the man, causing Sensui to smile in return. The dark-haired man held out his hand and said. "Then come with me…"

* * *

"Are you sure about this Sensui?" Itsuki asked, looking at the child behind them. He was also a bit curious as to why Sensui would do such a thing.

The dark-haired man glanced at Ranma before turning towards Itsuki. "Yes, I'm pretty sure about this. I was kind of surprised myself but I think that everything will go a lot smoother now than I had first anticipated." He answered in a cryptic manner, causing Itsuki to ponder over his words.

Ranma on the other hand, still had that cheerful smile on his face as he hummed his favorite tune. He merrily hopped around, holding that innocent, yet slightly disturbing look while he followed his two new friends.

_'Poppa's gone… momma should be with him… they'll be so happy together! Momma will surely thank me… she may even love me for doing that!'_

* * *

****

**AN: **This one just came out of the blue, and I just had to get rid of my other ideas (I couldn't concentrate on my other fics the whole week, sorry minna, but the next chapter for Flames of Destiny is almost finished ).

**Next: The Gates of Makai**


	2. The Gates of Makai

A Ranma ½ / Yu Yu Hakusho / Multi-crossover fanfiction

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ranma ½ and Yu Yu Hakusho or any other anime/game titles for that matter. Though I sometimes wish I was a class S youkai… heh. :P

===

"Please have mercy! Ah…!" A middle-aged woman pleaded before her head was swiftly removed from her body.

A tall figure gripped the woman's head by the hair. He smiled, turned around and showed it to the only other man in the room. He chuckled as the man immediately clutched his sides and promptly vomited on the floor. "Like it? C'mon and give your wife a kiss!" he shouted, throwing it towards the man's lap.

The dark figure laughed as he let loose a fragment of his power, causing the house to burn instantaneously along with the other man and his deceased wife. He casually walked out of the burning house and stopped to look at the fairly large house across the street. He had a vicious gleam in his eyes and he also had a maniacal grin on his face as he did so. He walked towards the entrance of that house, took a deep breath and knocked loudly on the door.

"I'm home, mother dear."

===

****

**_Dark Ascension_**

_By Insane Blight_

_The Gates of Makai_

* * *

A young man, roughly in his late teens, weaved through the crowded streets of Mushiyori City. He has long dark hair, icy blue eyes and he has some sort of symbol tattooed on his right cheek. He was wearing a black leather jacket over his dark blue shirt, black pants and shoes. He stopped in front of a local restaurant and a smile made its way to his face when he saw two figures waving at him from inside.

One of the figures was a tall man with short black hair and small, beady eyes. He was wearing a brown shirt and dark blue pants. The other one was an eleven year old boy with spiky brown hair and light green eyes. He was wearing a light blue shirt and blue shorts. The boy smiled cheerfully at him as he casually walked towards them. "Ranma! Over here! You're back already from your trip?"

"Yeah, I'm back and this time I'm going to stick around until we reach our goal, Amanuma, Makihara." Ranma answered with a small smile. He sat across them and chuckled at the sight of Makihara, also called Gourmet, devouring the food on the table. The child, who goes by the alias Game Master, snickered as well.

"So, what happened?" the young boy asked.

Ranma gave off a disappointed sigh. "It was too bad. No one was home at the time so I decided to leave her a heartfelt message." He answered in a playful tone.

Gourmet laughed. "Heartfelt? Since when did you, the dreaded fallen angel, start to use those kinds of words? It's not becoming of you at all Ranma."

"Hahaha! Yes, I know what you mean but I'd have to make an exception on this one. I really 'poured' all of my emotions into making that message and I have to say that it has turned out to be quite a work of art. I sure hope that she'll love it as much as I did!" Ranma grinned at his two comrades. "Anyway, what's his plan this time? I heard from Sniper a while back that he went out to look for the human that can wield it, so where is he?"

**Boom!**

Game Master pointed outside. "See for yourself."

Ranma, Amanuma and Makihara looked out the restaurant window and saw a huge explosion just a few blocks from where they were at. The latter two grinned and told Fallen Angel that it was time to go but Ranma simply raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the whole thing.

"Really now… I thought he would be a little more creative than this but I guess it'll do. So, what's the next step? C'mon, I've been gone for a few days so I really don't know what kind of plan he has come up with."

Game Master shrugged. "Actually, we don't know the whole plan. He just said to wait for his signal and then we'll go and get him, hopefully with the human in hand."

"As much as I'd like to talk about this, we really should get going! The plan is already in motion!" Gourmet shouted, running towards a pickup truck.

"Yeah… Huh? Ranma, aren't you coming?" Game Master asked. He really loved spending his time with Ranma, he may be brutal against his enemies but he's as kind as an angel to you if he's your friend. Ranma is also the only one he ever truly considered as a real friend and he doesn't want to lose that.

Ranma scratched the back of his head. "I'm really sorry GM but I have to go and talk to Itsuki-niichan first. I promise that I'll catch up with you guys later." He said with a reassuring smile.

Game Master smiled back and nodded to Ranma. "Okay, but you better keep your promise or else I'll beat you again and again and again in my territory!"

"Hahaha! Will do!"

* * *

Ranma entered the deep, damp and dark cave of Irima with a steady pace. He has memorized this cave inside out so he really has no difficulty navigating himself to the center of it. He entered the center of the cave and saw a man sitting on a boat in the middle of a small underground lake and he seemed to be in deep concentration. Behind the man was one of their goals, a doorway connecting to the demon world, Makai. It is not yet complete but he feels that it won't be long now for it to fully open.

"How did it go Ranma-kun?" The man suddenly asked.

"Disappointing, Itsuki-niichan. She wasn't home and one of her neighbors said that she won't be back in a day or two and you know I can't wait that long so I decided to leave her a message, a good one at that." Ranma said with a maniacal smile.

Itsuki chuckled. "You and your sense of 'creativity', I never would have expected anything less coming from you. You have a tremendous amount of bloodlust Ranma-kun, I still can't believe some of the things you do but as long as you fight for what you believe in, I will not get in your way."

Ranma shrugged. "Yeah, yeah… I guess I was just born this way, maybe that's why she never cared for me… ah, what the hell, I'm going to find that out sooner or later but right now I want to know what are Sensui-niichan's plans regarding the gate to Makai."

"The gate is almost complete but like I told you before, there is a dimensional barrier that Reikai created along the way that prevents the higher level youkai to enter Ningenkai. Specifically, the higher demons I'm talking about are the class A and the class S youkai." Itsuki started.

"So we need a human capable of breaking that dimensional barrier. Sniper said that we have already found the one thanks to Mitarai, a… Kazuma Kuwabara?" Ranma asked.

Itsuki, or Gatekeeper, nodded. "Yes, Sensui and Hagiri are in the process of luring him out now. Why don't you help them out a little bit? It'd keep your mind off of that woman for the time being."

Ranma snickered. "I'm about to do that, I wouldn't want to get on GM's bad side again. It was not a very pleasant experience. As for that woman, I plan on doing soooo many things for her and I just hope that it'll finally make her 'happy'. See you later niichan!"

"Please take care, Ranma-kun. And don't forget to use your head during your fights."

"Alright already, geez, you sound like a real mom." Ranma said flippantly as he walked towards the exit.

Itsuki just laughed his heart out.

* * *

"WAIT!!! Stop you bastards!" Urameshi Yusuke shouted as he followed the pickup truck that Sensui, Game Master, Makihara and the kidnapped Kuwabara were riding in, with a measly bike.

Game Master whistled. "He's really gaining on us Sensui."

Sensui, who was currently sitting at the back of the truck, chuckled and smiled knowingly as he stared at the trailing Reikai Tantei. "Don't worry. Someone will take care of Urameshi and… heh… it seems that we're now complete." He said, looking to his side. "And it looks like he's itching for another battle, too bad I won't get to see him destroy Urameshi."

"Ranma will pound him to the ground!" The young boy exclaimed.

"Yes but I really wish that he would stop playing with his opponents before he kills them. I don't recall teaching him those torturous ways…" Sensui said with a frown. _'Perhaps he got it from that fat bastard.' _"In any case, our goal shall finally be fulfilled."

Yusuke was actually beginning to catch up to the pickup when all of a sudden his bike blew into several pieces, forcing the Reikai Tantei to land on the road as he rolled nonstop to the highway curve and onto a lush forest. He grimaced as he got up, only to see a young man who was currently on a motorcycle. He has short, black hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a red jacket over his white shirt, light blue fingerless gloves and blue jeans.

"Sniper…" Yusuke started.

The man simply stared coldly at Urameshi. The Reikai Tantei fumed and was about to lunge at his opponent when he noticed several marks on his body. "What the hell?"

"Shimon Juuji-han…"

"What?" Yusuke asked, still staring at the target signs on his body.

Sniper continued his emotionless stare. "Death targets, Urameshi. To put it simply, they are trace spots. From now on, whatever I throw will automatically home in on you." He said as he picked up two rocks and chucked it towards him. The rocks immediately went for the target signs but Yusuke managed to smash the rocks with his fists before they got any closer.

"Grrr… damn…"

"You are now a marked man Urameshi. You have to be on guard 24/7 because you'll never know when you will be attacked and I don't think I have to tell you twice regarding how huge my territory is." Sniper stated calmly as he disappeared into the deep forest, with a fuming Yusuke following right behind him.

* * *

Back at the pickup truck, Kuwabara struggled to get out of Gourmet's extended fingers that were currently wrapped around his entire body. "Yusuke! Let me go! I said, let me go!"

Sensui merely smiled at the hot-headed teen. "Why would I want to do that? You have something that we need Kuwabara and whether you help us or not, we still have a backup plan just in case."

"No friggin way! I'd never help the likes of you, you twisted son of a-mrph!" Kuwabara found himself unable to speak further due to Gourmet's finger wrapping itself around his mouth.

"Thank you, Gourmet." Sensui said calmly.

Gourmet shrugged. "Don't mention it. This guy's getting on my nerves anyway."

Suddenly, a figure landed on the top of the pickup truck. He brushed his hair, looked down and gave Sensui a genuinely happy smile. "I'm back niichan! Sorry for taking so long though."

"I take it she wasn't there?" Sensui got no response, he smiled slightly as he spoke, "Never mind, from the look on your face it seems that you want to fight that Reikai Tantei, Urameshi Yusuke, correct?" That question got an enthusiastic nod and a manic grin from Ranma. Sensui just shook his head in resignation, mainly because he never really understood his lust for battle. "He's over by the forest path a few miles down the road. Sniper's already there, fighting Urameshi inside his territory."

Ranma smiled at Sensui and he waved goodbye to Game Master before jumping off the truck and dashing to the place he was told while Gourmet and the rest quickly went to the direction of the cave of Irima.

* * *

"Man, this just isn't my day." Yusuke said in between gasps. So far he has been attacked by razor sharp leaves, huge amount of rocks and the most recent attack was those damn knives. Where the hell are they coming from?! It was quite obvious that Sniper has the advantage in the woods so that's why he was now going back to the highway road in hopes to lure the bastard out into the open.

"Huh? Lucky!" the young teen exclaimed when he saw an oil truck about to pass by. _'Great! I'll get a ride back to the city.' _He thought with a smile but that smile soon faded when he noticed that the truck wasn't slowing down. In fact, it was coming right at him! His eyes widened when he saw that no one was behind the wheel of the oil truck. _'Don't tell me… is this one of his ammunitions too?!'_

Yusuke cursed. He can't use his rei gun on it since the damn thing will explode so he really has no other choice but to run back into the forest. He was so busy looking back at the truck behind him that he didn't notice a large rock ahead of him, causing him to trip and fall face first to the ground. He groaned as he got up but his eyes quickly widened when he realized that the truck was still right behind him. He didn't even bother looking back, he just ran as fast as he could to distance himself from the truck.

"Damn, what else could go wrong… huh?" The young Reikai Tantei's eyes narrowed when he saw Sniper standing at a distant cliff holding and aiming a handgun at him. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth when Sniper fired his gun, but he never felt the bullet hit his body. But then his eyes snapped open and he quickly turned around in horror. Sniper wasn't aiming at him… he was aiming for the truck!

A huge explosion followed suit, burning a few trees around the area. Sniper stared coldly at the scene and assumed that Urameshi would not have survived such an explosion. He turned around and was about to walk away when he froze as he saw Yusuke, kneeling and gasping for air beside the one he assumed was the last of Urameshi's group, Hiei. He quickly aimed his gun at Hiei but he was caught by surprise by Hiei's unexpected speed.

Hiei lunged at Sniper with his sword at high speed, a lot faster than what Sniper could follow. But his attack was surprisingly stopped by someone who easily matched his speed and was able get to his weapon before it could even reach Sniper's body.

"You shouldn't play with sharp objects you know." Ranma said as he gripped Hiei's sword with his fingertips, just a few inches from reaching Sniper's body.

Hiei scowled when Ranma casually released his grip on the sword. He leapt back and landed beside the still dazed Yusuke. He gazed intently at Ranma but he seemed to have a slightly thoughtful look on his face for once. _'Who is this man? That mark… I think I've seen it before… If so, then where?' _He pondered as he gazed intently on Ranma's odd right cheek tattoo.

Ranma tilted his head to the side. "Hagiri, are you okay?"

Sniper snapped out of his trance and looked at his savior. "Fallen Angel…? Thanks for saving me. Did Sensui send you here?" he quickly asked.

"Yes. Hey, I wanted to join in on the fun too." He answered cheerfully. "I also want to see that Reikai Tantei's power first hand so if you don't mind, can you get rid of shorty over there?" Ranma requested in a childlike tone while pointing at Hiei's form.

Sniper chuckled, shaking his head at his friend's unorthodox ways. "Got it, I'll lure him as far away as I can. Then I'll probably go and join Sensui back at Irima cave."

Ranma nodded in understanding. "Alright, be careful Hagiri."

"You too…"

Sniper quickly ran to the side with all his might. Both Yusuke and Hiei hesitated on going after him. For Yusuke it was because he had a feeling that the man in front of him was more than what he seemed while Hiei's reason was because a part of him wanted to ask this individual with a couple of questions concerning his identity.

Their hesitation lasted for a few more minutes until Hiei cursed, sheathed his sword and quickly went after Sniper, he can ask this guy those questions after Yusuke defeats him. The Reikai Tantei took a short glance at Hiei before turning back and facing a smiling Ranma.

* * *

Ranma happily clasped his hands together and grinned from ear to ear. "Now then, shall we play? I haven't had a good playmate in such a long time so I really hope that you have what it takes to play with me…" he said in a somewhat innocent and childish tone.

Yusuke was practically steaming. "Who the hell are you?! Don't tell me… another one from Sensui's group of seven? Don't you get it?! He's using all of you just like he used Mitarai! Stop trying to destroy this world!"

The long-haired teen laughed. "I think you're preaching to the wrong guy here. Well, to answer your questions, no, I am not from his group of seven. It's just that he, Gatekeeper and I are very close. Yes, I do get it and for your information he's not using me in any way, shape or form. And lastly, we will continue to try and destroy this world because we can and there is nothing you can do about it, Urameshi Yusuke."

"You have me at a disadvantage here, you know me but I don't know you pal."

Ranma slapped his forehead. "Oh dear, where are my manners? You can call me Ranma or you can call me by my alias, Fallen Angel. Oh! Right… there's one other thing that you should now Yusuke-kun… I am Sensui's brother." He stated proudly.

Yusuke's eyes widened and he practically froze from his position. _'Brother?! Koenma never said anything about Sensui having any living relatives…' _Before he could contemplate on it any further, Yusuke found himself being thrown back into the forest by one helluva punch.

Ranma waved a finger to the young Reikai Tantei. "Tsk, tsk… zoning out when you know you had an opponent right in front of you. Is that how a Reikai Tantei should act?"

"You got me…" Yusuke started, wiping the blood from his mouth. "You're very strong, a lot stronger than your 'brother'. I think I'm gonna like this." He said as he got up and grinned at his opponent.

The two men stared at each other's eyes. There was a casual, slightly bored look in Ranma's while Yusuke had a spirited look as he stared at Sensui's brother. Without any warning whatsoever, Yusuke leapt at his opponent and began to arch his arm back to deliver his first blow. To his surprise, Ranma just stood there, allowing Yusuke to connect with his punch, a punch that sent Ranma flying to a nearby tree.

Ranma chuckled as he slowly got up. He licked the blood dripping from his mouth before staring at the slightly shocked Reikai Tantei. "Delicious, please continue. I want to witness your power, Yusuke-kun. I want to find out if you really are worthy to fight him!"

Yusuke gritted his teeth. He doesn't have time to fight this… sicko. The doorway will open soon and they have to stop it as fast as possible. _'Damn, if he really is Sensui's brother, it looks like I'll have to go all out at once.' _He began to focus his reiki at his fingertip. "You want it? You got it! Rei Gun!"

His eyes widened when Ranma held his palm up and made a ball of reiki appear. He then released the ball and swiftly kicked it towards the shocked Reikai Tantei. _'That's Sensui's move!'_

"Resshuu Kou Kyuu Ha!"

* * *

Ranma dashed forward before his move could even collide with Yusuke's rei gun. He caught the young Tantei off guard so he performed a series of punches and kicks that forced Yusuke to move back as he attempted to block Ranma's attacks. He finished it off with a punch heavily charged with reiki that broke through Yusuke's defenses and connected to the boy's face, sending him flying deeper into the forest.

He ran after Yusuke's body and grabbed him by the head. He smiled maniacally as he slammed the poor boy's head through the trees several times before Yusuke did a ki-charged uppercut that forced him to release his hold.

Yusuke kneeled down as he gasped for air while Ranma spat out some blood from his mouth. Yusuke looked up and glared at Fallen Angel's smirk. _'Different, he's different from him. He has his moves but his technique is a lot more similar to mine than Sensui's. He doesn't even allow his opponent to make the first move like what Sensui did to me earlier…' _

Ranma placed a finger on his chin. "Hmm… I wonder what you're thinking right now. Let me guess, why am I not using the same style as my brother's? Let me tell you something, even though his Reikou Resshuu Ken is probably the most powerful art ever created, its countermove preferences bores the hell out of me. So I created a branch of my own, one that mixes my old style with that of my brother's. Instead of defense-offense, I use both simultaneously."

He demonstrated by summoning several reiki balls around him. Yusuke jumped back and prepared himself for an all-out attack. Ranma smiled as a few reiki balls buried themselves to the ground while the rest spun around his body, forming a reiki barrier. "Let's play some more, shall we?"

Ranma ran towards Yusuke and let loose his punches while Yusuke could do nothing but block them because every time he attacks, Ranma's spinning reiki barrier would get to him first. Sensui's brother drove his fist deep into the young Tantei's stomach, forcing the young lad's body to jerk up. To make matters worse, the reiki barrier went back into reiki balls and proceeded detonate themselves on Yusuke's body, much to Ranma's delight.

Yusuke was tired. He has bruised, battered and bloodied all day and he doesn't know if he can take much more of this. First he faced Sensui back at the apartment, then Sniper and his whole armada of homing weapons, now he's facing Sensui's deranged little brother. That's why he blinked in surprise when Ranma stopped attacking. He looked up to see Ranma staring oddly at his body. Wondering what was going on, he looked down to find out that Sniper's trace spots have vanished.

_'The marks are disappearing… he failed. Hagiri…' _"I guess that's enough for now." Ranma sighed in disappointment. He then jumped up to prevent being slashed by Hiei's blade.

Hiei, who Ranma assumed finished Sniper off, readied himself for another attack but unfortunately for him, the ki balls Ranma buried into the ground earlier suddenly shot up and prevented him from getting any closer.

Fallen Angel grinned as he waved goodbye to a truly interesting playmate. "Let's play some other time Yusuke-kun! The doorway won't be open for at least two more days anyway. Ja ne!"

* * *

Both Hiei and Yusuke walked down the road in silence. After Ranma left, Yusuke tried thanking Hiei for the save but Hiei responded by laughing his head off while saying that Yusuke's attempt at sealing the Makai door was pathetic. Both promptly got into a tussle from there, with Hiei using his fists rather than his sword.

Their fight ended when the Tantei got a hit in to Hiei's arm that made him bleed. The Jaganshi licked his wound and said that if he had this much strength left then why didn't he use it against Ranma. Yusuke didn't have an answer to that. He knew Ranma was playing with him, holding back his power like Sensui did earlier but he wasn't going all out as much too. It's just that there is something about Sensui's brother that sort of got to him but he doesn't have one damn clue as to what it is.

Hiei for his part, wanted to join Urameshi's Team for one reason alone and that is to find out more about Ranma and that tattoo, he also had this feeling that Reikai would need all, and he means ALL the help they can get with Ranma siding with the ex-Reikai Tantei.

They were about out of the forest when they spotted Genkai and Kurama's group. Yusuke immediately went over to them, the group thought that he was just glad to see them again but they were surprised when the young man ran past Kurama and Genkai and headed towards a certain blue-haired girl.

"Botan! I need to talk to Koenma, NOW!" Yusuke yelled, gripping the terrified girl by the shoulders.

"Yusuke, what's wrong?" Kurama quickly asked, wondering what got into the Reikai Tantei to set him off like that.

"The little runt has been keeping secrets from us!"

That statement brought both shocked and questioning looks amongst the group. Botan's was the most noticeable, mainly because she thought that Koenma already told them everything, from the tape to Sensui's past so what other secret is Koenma keeping from them? "A-Alright, I still have the kit so we can contact him right now."

Botan immediately set up her communication link to Reikai. She turned on the monitor and the form of a baby with a pacifier came into view. "Yusuke? What's wrong?"

"Why didn't you tell me Sensui had a brother?!"

* * *

"Phew, he only hit me twice but I feel dizzy already. Nice move, charging his punches with all the reiki he could muster in that short time." Ranma said with a bit of respect.

He arrived at the center of Irima cave moments later, only to blink when he heard a very loud and annoying voice that could only come from Kuwabara. He got closer and saw their captive struggling to get free from Gourmet's grasp while Gourmet simply had an irritated look on his face as he ate some food.

Itsuki was still on the boat in the middle of the lake. It won't be long now, the doorway to the demon realm will finally be open and every one of these sinful humans shall die. Itsuki opened his eyes and smiled warmly when he saw his 'son' from the entrance.

Game Master was busy playing with his computer on the side while his big brother was sitting on a couch, relaxing as he gathered his energy.

"Heh, quite a loud mouth, isn't he?" he snickered, pointing to their captive.

Sensui took a few deep breaths before turning to face him with his now serene face and sighed. "I told you not to play with your opponents, how many times do I have to tell you that?"

"Aw c'mon, niichan. Stop being such a stiff, he was an interesting playmate. But sadly, not enough to fight us one on one… maybe in a few years yes, but right now he's only use is good entertainment." He said, hanging his head in disappointment.

Game Master looked up. "Hey Ranma, let's play a game."

Ranma smiled warmly. "Sure kiddo! I'm paying you back this time!"

* * *

The group's reactions varied. Most of them had shocked looks but a few of them had other noticeable reactions. A calm and bored look on Hiei's face, a little surprise was evident on Kurama's, Genkai raised a curious eyebrow while Botan gasped loudly. The most interesting reaction was from Koenma, he had a puzzled look on his face and he had his arms crossed as if in deep thought, it was like he had absolutely no idea what Yusuke was talking about… and he doesn't.

Koenma leaned from his table causing his face to come closer to the monitor. "Brother? What brother? I told you already that Sensui had no living relatives anymore, so it highly unlikely for him to have a brother by blood." He calmly explained to the group.

"So either the one Yusuke was talking about has the territory to copycat like Yanagi here or Sensui took him into his care when he was young." Kurama said, although he was doubtful of the second part.

Yusuke quickly shook his head. "No, he was not using a territory. I know the feeling when a person starts using it and he sure wasn't making any illusions or copycat abilities when he performed Sensui's move. Hell, I think his version is stronger than his brother's! Hiei saw it and I sure as hell felt it."

The group glanced at Hiei and the Jaganshi just nodded. "He caught my sword while I was running at pretty decent speed and there is the mark on his right cheek…" '_Where have I seen that tattoo before?'_

"Mark? What kind of mark?" Koenma asked.

Hiei stared coldly at the monitor. "A dark blue, strange, abstract mark… it starts from the right side of his forehead and ends just above the neckline."

"No… it can't be… Yusuke, by any chance, did he tell you his name? " Koenma, who now has gone white, asked.

Yusuke thought about it. "Hmm… yeah, Sniper called him Fallen Angel but he introduced himself as Ranma. Hey, you're shaking… what's wrong? Who was that guy?! Tell us now Koenma!"

"Damn… I'm going down there right now. We still have two days until the doorway opens right? So wait for me there and do not, I repeat… do not go to their hideout without my consent!" Koenma bellowed before he shut the monitor off.

Koenma sighed sadly and placed a hand on his face. "You fool… what have you done?"

* * *

A few hours later, Saotome Nodoka casually walked back to her home. She just got back from her visit to a few of her old friends and she was more than happy to have seen them after all this time. Her mood changed significantly when she saw her neighbor's house burned to the ground, wondering what could have caused the fire. She was a bit surprised that not a single person from any other house was outside but she shrugged if off, they hate her so she doesn't really care.

She sighed and entered her home, only to scream in horror when she saw blood trails leading to the inside of her home. She clutched her sides and did the best she could to avoid throwing up. She cautiously walked towards the front door, her katana already unsheathed. Her eyes already taking a very serious look and from her stance, it seems that she has quite a bit of experience with the blade.

The trail of blood lead upstairs and her fears came true, the trails stopped at Ranma's old room. She shakily opened it and the first thing she heard was a sweet recording of someone humming a tune or a lullaby. She turned on the lights to reveal a number of dead bodies hanging on the walls. She gasped and placed a hand on her mouth as she looked at them, they were her neighbors and from the looks on their faces it seemed that they didn't die so easily.

She glanced down and saw a letter on the bed. She grabbed it and hesitantly opened the letter and she read it out loud…

----

_Momma,_

_I'm back momma! I was going to wait for you at my room but I made a promise to someone, gomen nasai. Anyway, did you like my room now? It's great, isn't it? These people are the ones that I hate when I was a child, and you taught me all about hate, ne momma? The way I figure it, why settle for just not seeing them when you can simply kill them? That way, they won't be a bother to you anymore. Well, I got to go but I'll be back later momma. I have a big surprise for you, so you better wait for me momma! Bye-Bye!_

----

She dropped the letter in shock. She sat down in the middle of the blood covered room in stunned silence and her eyes were still wide from everything she has witnessed. She couldn't think straight, she couldn't even go out of the room. She just sat there, absently listening to the recording of Ranma's childhood lullaby.

Nodoka got out of her stupor when she heard a loud crash coming from downstairs. Is he back? She gripped her katana tightly as she quickly ran out of the room and down the stairs. _'No matter what happens…' _

* * *

****

**AN:** Well, decided to make another one. I hope you all enjoyed this one, even if it is disturbing. Gomen ne, I really couldn't finish the next chapter for FoD as promised, it's just that I couldn't write anything on it at the moment.

**Next: Your Happiness is my Misery**


	3. Your Happiness is my Misery

A Ranma ½ / Yu Yu Hakusho / Multi-crossover fanfiction

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ranma ½ and Yu Yu Hakusho or any other anime/game titles for that matter. Though I sometimes wish I was a class-S youkai…heh. :P

**WARNING:** This chapter contains some… ah what's the use, you've read this far, right?

===

A young man with brown hair and eyes and has a tattoo of Jr. on his forehead walked through a long and empty corridor. He stopped however when he felt another presence appear behind him. "What is it, Ayame?"

Ayame stepped forward with a sad face. She has long dark hair and dark blue eyes. Her hair was tied in a bun and she was wearing a black kimono. "If…If it isn't too much to ask, may I accompany you to Ningenkai, Koenma-sama?"

"No, it does not concern-"

"But it does Koenma-sama!" she quickly interrupted. "It was my fault for being so careless back then and I do have the right to correct the mistake I made eighteen years ago!" Ayame screamed. It was a very unusual behavior for her considering the fact that most of the people in Reikai have known her as a quiet, soft spoken person.

Koenma slammed his fist to the wall. "That's enough! It wasn't your fault, it was all mine… everything is my fault. I ruined their lives and now my two sins have come back to haunt me…"

===

**_Dark Ascension_**

_By Insane Blight_

_Your Happiness is my Misery_

* * *

"Let me go! Let me out of here!" Kuwabara screamed. He was currently tied up at a corner of the cave. Gourmet must've had enough of his loud mouth so he left him there. He was about to scream again but Gourmet smacked him on the head before he could do so.

"Give it a rest already! Some people are trying to sleep you know!"

Kuwabara struggled to get out of the ropes but to no avail. "Let me go or else Yusuke and the others will come here and kick all of your butts!"

Gourmet laughed. "That's what we're expecting!"

The hot-headed teen was about to ask more when he and Gourmet noticed Ranma approaching them. Gourmet sweat dropped when he saw the look on the young man's face. "Amanuma beat you again?"

"Lousy, no-good game territory of his…" Ranma muttered.

"Hahaha! I told you to stop fighting him like that. You'd have a much better chance of surviving the demon realm rather than winning inside Game Master's territory!" Gourmet said in between laughter.

Ranma shook his head. "Yeah, yeah, but I just love doing it for the challenge alone." He turned towards Kuwabara with a sweet smile. "So… you're Kuwabara, right? What's this I hear about Urameshi kicking our butts?"

Kuwabara stared directly into Ranma's eyes. "Read my lips! Yusuke will come here and beat all of you down! He has done it in the past and this time is no different! If I wasn't tied up right now I would have done it myself!"

The long-haired teen chuckled. He clutched his sides and his chuckle soon turned into a full-blown laughter. Both Gourmet and Kuwabara had puzzled looks on their faces. What was so funny? Ranma looked at Kuwabara with an innocent smile before he cupped the young teen's chin.

"You know, you remind me of someone I met when I was on my way back from visiting my 'relative'. He was hot-headed, brash, and a little arrogant at times but the one thing that got my attention is that he has this horrible, and I do mean horrible sense of direction! It was rather funny to watch him get lost every five steps! Oh, do you want to know what I did to him?"

Kuwabara rapidly shook his head. He suddenly felt a cold shiver run down his spine as Ranma asked him that question. His instincts tell him that whatever Ranma was going to say will not be good for the weak of heart.

"Oh, you don't want to hear it…? I'll tell you anyway! He bumped into me when I was on my way back to Mushiyori City. He had the nerve to blame me for his mistake and I think that he wanted to hit me, or should I say bully me, maybe he thought that I was weak or something. Anyway, he got lost after I leapt above him so I followed him for a few minutes before deciding to show myself.

Man, I thought he was one powerful playmate when he threw that wave of energy at me, but it only singed my clothes a little. I was soooo disappointed that I blatantly ignored him and his futile attacks. I think I ripped out both of his arms before pulling his heart out, it doesn't matter. The point is that I enjoyed tearing him apart rather than fighting him and his weak fighting skills."

His eyes had a murderous look as he stared at Kuwabara's now pale and shaking form. "So please do not boast too much… because I'd surely take it out on you if your friends prove to be of no challenge to me or my brother, alright?"

Kuwabara could do nothing but nod in response.

* * *

Back at the Saotome home, Nodoka silently walked down the stairs. She stopped when she reached the bottom, she closed her eyes as she began to concentrate and her sword responded by glowing slightly. She was about to reach the front door when she noticed a shadow at the corner. Lightning arcs coursed through her sword as she dashed forward with the intent of slicing the figure's head off.

"Die!"

The figure barely had time to evade the strike. He leapt to the side and surprisingly, did not retaliate. Nodoka gripped her sword tightly and charged at the figure once more but she paused when a wave of reiki went right past her, just a few inches from hitting her face. She looked to her side and saw several people standing at her destroyed front door and she could tell that they were all 'unique' in their own way. "Who are you people? What are you doing in my home?!"

"They're with us." The figure she just fought said.

Nodoka's eyes widened when she saw two people she thought she would never see again, not after that incident eighteen years ago. "Ayame-chan? Koenma?"

"It's been a long time, No-chan." Ayame greeted her longtime friend.

"You know why we're here, Kirishima Nodoka. Now, I want some answers. Where is he? Where is the boy?! What have you done to him?!" Koenma yelled, grabbing Nodoka by the shoulders.

The auburn-haired woman shook herself free. "You saw the blood outside! He's becoming the sick bastard that I know he truly is!" she snapped back although she seemed to be more focused on watching Hiei and Kurama rather than listen to what Ayame or Koenma had to say. "I hope he dies soon, he can rot in hell for a-"

Koenma slapped Nodoka hard. "I've had it up to here with you, you self-righteous bitch! Your arrogance led to all of this and even now you still won't accept your own fault! I know you and what you have become Nodoka. He wasn't going to turn out like this if you took care for him like a real mother should! I have no one to blame but myself for ever choosing you as a Reikai Tantei. Now, where is Ranma?!"

"He's gone! I gave him to his no good father and they haven't returned in years! I hoped he was already dead but from the dead bodies upstairs it looks like he's coming back pretty soon. I will deal with him myself and you know I can very well wipe him out of existence Koenma! Even your pacifier is useless against my ancestor's power and you damn well know it!"

"We'll see about that, Shinguji descendant!"

Ayame quickly got in between the two before things get way out of hand because the last time Nodoka released her power was eighteen years ago, just a few weeks after that horrible tragedy. She leveled three cities before she was finally stopped by the Reikai Defense Squad.

* * *

After a few hours of taking care of the dead bodies upstairs, the group was now gathered around the living room table, with Nodoka still glaring daggers at Kurama and Hiei.

"Now then, I know the reason as to why you two are here." She said, pointing to Koenma and Ayame. "What I don't understand is why did you bring these humans here? And why do you have these two monstrosities with you as well?! Don't tell me that Reikai sides with the demon realm now!"

Hiei just glared right back at the ex-Reikai Tantei all the while clutching his own katana, this woman was starting to get to him and he doesn't know if he can control himself long enough for this woman to explain everything. Kurama, on the other hand, raised a questioning eyebrow. Great, just what the world needs right now, a former Reikai Tantei that hates demons with a passion.

Genkai was unusually quiet as she sat at a corner of the room. _'Shinguji clan, the clan made famous by their ability to destroy a number of very powerful demons in one fell swoop, dating back before the barrier between Ningenkai and Makai was created. I never thought that there would still be a living descendant after all these years.'_

"First of all, calm down, they are not here to fight. I came here to confirm if my suspicions were true, that the Ranma my Reikai Tantei encountered was the same Ranma that you gave birth to." Koenma said with a scowl.

Ayame stepped in. "No-chan, you promised… you promised that you'd take care of him no matter what the circumstances were. What happened, No-chan?"

"That child is a plague! I can't stand to be near him every second of my life! He is trash, filth and a disgrace to my ancestors! He doesn't deserve to walk-"

**Slap!**

Everyone looked on as Kurama stepped in and slapped Nodoka hard, causing her to fall to the ground. "Don't you dare say those words! From what I gather, this… Ranma is your flesh and blood. He's your son and from the tone of your voice and your words it seems to me that you are the one responsible for what he is now. You treated him like dirt since he was a child, didn't you?! Answer me!"

Nodoka got up and glared at Kurama. "What would a demon know about this? Your kind eats humans for a living so what would you know?!"

"I do know! I was raised by my human mother! She opened my eyes and for the first time in my life, I felt a mother's love for her child, something that you blatantly denied your son!"

"You'll never understand demon! Who are you fooling? You and your twisted kind are nothing but scourges to this world! My ancestors sent all of you demons back to Makai more than once and I'm more than willing to finish the job that they left behind!"

Kurama clenched his teeth and was about to slap Nodoka again when the group suddenly heard someone clapping. They turned around and saw a familiar figure sitting on the wall, sarcastically clapping his hands and chuckling darkly every now and then.

"Heh, just like I remembered you… ne, momma?"

* * *

"Ranma!" Yusuke shouted, already in front of everybody else. Everybody else tensed and prepared themselves for a possible fight with the one many of them feel sorry for.

Ranma hopped down the wall and casually walked towards the group or more specifically, towards his 'mother'. He paused when he saw Mitarai hiding behind Yusuke and the rest. He sighed and slowly went over to him. "Mitarai, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Yusuke was about to attack when he noticed that his arm was being stopped by Mitarai himself. "Mitarai, what are you doing?"

"I… I have to talk to him. It's the least I could do after all he has done for me." Mitarai whispered.

"Mitarai… gomen…" Ranma said sadly.

Mitarai blinked in surprise. He thought that he'd immediately get blasted just like Sensui attempted to do back at the apartment but instead he was caught off guard by Ranma's apology, apology for what? "Wh-What are you apologizing for? I-I was the one who left the group, I'm a traitor to all of you…"

Ranma smiled at him. "Yeah, about that… I'm sorry for my brother's actions, he has this personality thing going on and he couldn't control himself sometimes. If I was there when it happened, it would never have come down to that so I'm so sorry for what you've been through these past few days."

"Y-You're not going to kill me?"

"Hahaha! Heavens no! I promised you didn't I?" Ranma asked.

----

_"So what's your story? Why did you join our group?" Ranma asked._

_"I… I hate humans, they pick on weak people, and they pick on me. I don't have any friends, even if I have one, I'm pretty sure that it'll only be a matter of time before they turn against me…"_

_Ranma patted Mitarai's back. "I'll be your friend." He said sincerely. He smiled as he saw the boy's eyes widen. "And I promise that I'll never turn on you no matter what."_

----

"We're friends, right?" Ranma asked and Mitarai nodded as his body trembled with emotion. Ranma patted Mitarai's shoulder before continuing to walk towards his mother with a sweet smile.

Nodoka took a step back when she saw that smile. It was a smile she usually saw from the four year old Ranma even when she would beat him up.

"Oh my, are you afraid of me, momma?" Ranma asked but he didn't get any response. "It's okay, I just wanted to give you your present… here!" he exclaimed, pulling out a small box from his clothes. "It's not a bomb or anything so please don't be scared of it."

Hesitantly, Nodoka accepted the supposed present. She carefully opened it and she reached inside and grabbed onto something. She pulled it out and she gasped at what she saw, a silver, heart-shaped choker and a black piece of cloth which turned out to be a beautiful kimono but… this kind of kimono is only used for… funerals. Nodoka leapt back to avoid any attacks from her son but Ranma kept on smiling as he turned around and hopped back to the wall, much to the confusion of everybody present.

"I'm glad you enjoyed my present, I'll be going now… Oh! Did you read my letter? If you did then you probably know what I do to the people that I hate. Oh and momma? I HATE YOU!!!" Ranma shouted, throwing a ki blast at her before she could even react. It has more than enough power behind it to hit her chest hard, causing the projectile to travel right through her uncaring heart and out her back.

* * *

"No-chan!" Ayame shrieked in horror as she watched the projectile rip right through her best friend's body. The group was stunned except for three people. Yusuke immediately fired his rei gun at Ranma but he easily evaded it, Kurama stared rather coldly at the Saotome Matriarch's dying form while Hiei just scoffed at Nodoka as he leaned back onto the wall, he couldn't have done a better job.

Kurama looked back at Ranma and it saddened him to see an innocent boy turn out like this. His eyes widened slightly when he saw a few, barely noticeable, tears falling down his face. Maybe it wasn't too late after all.

"I'd love to see what you'll look like in your own funeral! Have her wear that dress, it'll sure bring a smile to my face! Later!" Ranma exclaimed before he hopped out of the wall and proceeded to leave his former home.

"We have no choice. Koenma! We'll go to their hideout now whether you like it or not! We can't risk it being completed after what has happened here! Mitarai, you can take us there, right?" Yusuke asked.

Mitarai nodded. "Yes, I can guide you inside Irima cave as well."

"Alright, all of you go to their hideout and stop the doorway from fully opening. Ayame and I will stay here for the time being but I'll join you as soon as I can." Koenma said.

The group immediately went outside the house and ran after the angry Fallen Angel. Ayame was frantically trying to do everything within her healing powers to save her best friend from dying._ 'No, don't die, please don't die…'_

===**Flashback**===

"There, there No-chan. An arranged marriage isn't that bad, is it?"

Kirishima Nodoka, at the young age of sixteen has just received the shock of her life. Her parents made an arranged marriage for her without her knowing about it. Bad enough it was to an older guy, but she could feel that he is also a dishonorable person. In short: just another scumbag out for her parents' money.

Nodoka sighed. "I don't know…I just don't know Ayame. I mean, there is something about him that makes me wary for some reason. Though he seems like a capable fighter… it's still not enough to match me and my abilities as a Reikai Tantei." she said a bit arrogantly.

Her best friend rubbed her temples. "Oh No-chan… you do know that because of that easy-going attitude of yours, we've been into some pretty tight situations in the past right?" she said with a sigh of her own.

The auburn-haired girl nonchalantly shrugged. "I admit that I attract a lot of trouble but I can always use my ancestor's technique to get me out of it. It worked so far, hasn't it?"

The dark-haired spirit girl grumbled. "Don't remind me… I should've never let you know who your ancestors were. I got suspended for it and I'm stuck here in Ningenkai with you as a result."

"Sorry! I didn't mean for you to get into trouble with Koenma. Anyway, it's not THAT bad being stuck with me is it? I always get the job done in perfect fashion!" Nodoka exclaimed.

Ayame merely raised an eyebrow. "Reeeeaaaalllly…? How about the time during the spirit stealer case? You know… the one where you kicked the youkai down 'there' in desperation, hmm?"

"Um… improvisation?" the auburn-haired teenager hesitantly replied.

"How about that psychotic youkai a few months back? You were fawning yourself to him pretty good!"

The Reikai Tantei chuckled nervously. "Errr… reverse psychology?"

The spirit girl's eyebrow twitched. "Then how about the time when I found you drunk with the succubus you were supposed to capture?"

Nodoka sweated as Ayame glared at her. "Eheheh…go with the flow?"

Ayame just sighed in resignation. Nodoka's arrogance really went up a couple of notches when she acquired her ancestor's skills. She just hope that her friend doesn't get too careless in her missions but it seems highly unlikely with the current trend she was seeing.

=====

Nodoka and Ayame watched and listened to Koenma as he explained the specifics of the mission. A few high level youkai has managed to escape to Ningenkai by using Makai parasites to lower their powers, their race were thought to have been wiped out by the 3 rulers of Makai a couple of hundreds of years ago.

"I want you to search the area for these creatures but you must not engage them in anyway. You should wait for either the defense team or your partner, Sutou, to arrive in that area. Do I make myself clear?" Koenma asked from the monitor in his grown-up form.

"We understand, Koenma-sama." Ayame replied.

Nodoka just waved a hand on the monitor before taking off, causing both Ayame and Koenma to rub their temples. That girl is soooo stubborn.

"Ayame, find her quick. These demons are a lot stronger than the ones she has encountered. She is still unused to using her ancestor's sword and in harnessing her inborn abilities so she can't handle one of these demons at her current level. Bring her back here at once!"

"R-Right away, Koenma-sama!"

The dark-haired spirit girl immediately ran out of the room, leaving the monitor open, with Koenma still online. He sighed as he leaned back on his chair. "I hope nothing happens to them…"

Meanwhile, Nodoka spotted one of the demons at a park. She blatantly ignored Koenma's warning as she engaged the monster, she can take care of herself. The demon turned around to look at the Reikai Tantei and Nodoka did the same.

The demon was tall, has pale, light blue skin, long, sharp fingers and red eyes. He has wings behind his back but this one is different from the bat-like wings some demons have, it has a couple of metallic sides and was sharp as hell, she saw it cut through the steel wall earlier with little to no problem.

Nodoka quickly got into her stance, this one could be ugly.

===**End Flashback**===

Nodoka's eyes widened as she took one last breath before finally slumping to her friend's lap.

"No-chan, don't you die on me! No-chan, answer me please!"

"Move out of the way, Ayame." Koenma ordered.

Ayame reluctantly nodded, laying the woman on the floor. She watched in amazement when Koenma removed his pacifier from his mouth and pointed it towards the dead woman. A wave of energy coursed through Nodoka's body and the spirit girl could easily see that her friend's wounds were closing up real fast. She gasped when Nodoka began to move a few seconds later, Koenma just brought her back to life!

* * *

A few hours passed, Urameshi and the others finally arrived at the cave of Irima. Yusuke, Mitarai, Hiei and Kurama went inside while Genkai, Botan and the rest of the group stayed outside and waited for Koenma to join them.

"So they're finally here." Ranma muttered. He could sense three slightly powerful individuals entering the cave entrance which he has no doubt were Yusuke and those two demons.

"Alright! I'll unleash my territory so that they'll be stopped in reaching the center of the cave. That's the whole plan, isn't it, Ranma?" Game Master asked.

The two friends were currently in an empty part of the cave which Sensui picked for Game Master to use. Urameshi's team will have no other choice but to stay in Game Master's territory until the Makai doorway fully opens or defeat him quickly in order to proceed. All of this was planned by Sensui but from the look on Ranma's face…

Ranma kneeled in front of Game Master. "Yeah, this is it."

"Don't worry Ranma! I'll show them all my powers! I'll-umph!" Game Master couldn't finish when he received a punch in the stomach that easily knocked him out. "W-Why…?"

Ranma didn't answer him. He caught Game Master's unconscious form and carefully placed him on the floor. He brushed the boy's hair a few times before standing back up. He summoned a few reiki orbs and they promptly created a barrier around the downed boy in order to protect him from everything, from large rocks to demons. Ranma glanced at Game Master one more time before finally leaving him there.

"Ja na…"

* * *

"This is it. This is the center of the cave." Mitarai said as they came upon a huge place with a small lake in the middle of it. There, the group saw Ranma leaning on a wall while waving at them, Gourmet was a few feet from Ranma's spot and he smiled at the group while Sensui was sitting on the sofa, watching something on the television set at the center.

"Sensui! Where is Kuwabara?!" Yusuke asked angrily.

Sensui glanced at them over his shoulder. "He's around here somewhere. Anyway, please don't yell, I'm trying to watch a movie here. I should warn you though, it will take about thirty minutes for this movie to end and that's when the Makai door will open as well."

Kurama's eyes widened. "That's not possible! I thought we still have a day before it fully opens!"

"That would be my fault." Ranma started. "You see it will take a day or two for it to be opened by normal means. However, we found a way to make the process go faster, thus the thirty minute window."

Gourmet stepped up. "You shouldn't get so excited, and you shouldn't think too much, it'll cause you a headache." He said to Kurama. Then he turned and faced Yusuke. "And you, Urameshi, you're an exception. You should use your head rather than your fists. Your reckless idea right now will kill you."

"You can read our thoughts?!"

"Yup, I'm sure that you've seen this territory before, you got to that man first, didn't you?" Gourmet asked, a grin forming on his face. "A human that reads other people's thoughts… I just found him a few days ago after that hospital incident and I have to tell you, he was delicious!"

Yusuke's face darkened. "You… you didn't…!"

"My territory is inside my body, Urameshi. Whatever I eat, especially if it is a person, I will obtain their powers. They will become a part of me!" Gourmet laughed.

"You… bastard!"

Kurama grabbed Yusuke by the shoulders. "Now is not the time Yusuke, we have to stop the doorway from opening. Leave him and Ranma to us, just focus on stopping Sensui."

Yusuke gritted his teeth before nodding reluctantly. "Alright, let's go do it then."

On the side, Mitarai found Kuwabara tied up at a corner with his mouth gagged with a piece of cloth. He untied him but the two suddenly found themselves surrounded by darkness and then they disappeared.

* * *

"I remember you. You're the one that killed Hagiri, correct?" Ranma asked with cold eyes.

Hiei drew his sword. "So what if I am? What are you going to do about it? I don't hate you as much as I hate your mother but I'm going to make sure that there will be nothing left of you when this is all over."

"We'll see, we'll see about that shorty but for now, show me if you have the right to be my playmate for today!" Ranma exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear as he unleashed his aura which Hiei countered by unleashing his own.

The Jaganshi dashed forward and attempted to slash Ranma with all he's got but the long-haired teen merely dodged each and every one of them with practiced ease. He even yawned at one point when he caught Hiei's sword with his fingers. That was the turning point for it was Ranma's turn to attack. He doesn't have Hiei's quickness in his strikes but the force he leaves behind was enough to kill several people or demons in one swoop.

"Are you going to block my attacks all day? If that's the case…" Ranma trailed off, gathering his power to summon those ever so familiar reiki energy balls. He combined them to form just one large energy ball. "Reikou Resshuu Shien Dan!"

He kicked the energy ball and it went back into dozens of little reiki balls as he did so. Those orbs homed in on Hiei and they attacked from all directions, making it hard to dodge them all but Hiei managed somehow because of his amazing speed.

Hiei landed and was about to retaliate when he noticed the irritated look on Ranma's face as he stared at the ground below. The Jaganshi looked down a little bit too late when he found himself being swallowed by a huge shadow. Ranma glanced at the shadow's head and pouted. "No fair! Why do you always have all the fun, Itsuki-niichan?"

* * *

Meanwhile, the fight between Kurama and Gourmet came to a surprisingly early conclusion. Kurama was in a very bad mood since going to the Saotome home and Gourmet's… newly acquired ability finally pissed him off. Before Gourmet could even read his thoughts, Kurama wrapped his rose whip around his opponent's head and sliced it right off, killing him in one blow.

"I'm not in the mood to play this game so why don't we stop right here and now? Come out and show yourself already…Toguro!"

Gourmet's headless body suddenly moved by itself and a gleeful chuckle escaped from it. "Just as I expected, you always were the sharp one of your group, Kurama." Elder Toguro's head popped out of Gourmet's neck. He smiled maniacally when he saw the scowl on Kurama's face.

"I might as well tell you how I ended up here. After my ungrateful little brother kicked me out of the arena, I managed to reform a part of myself and managed send a short-ranged signal for help. This signal can only be detected by very powerful beings and Sensui was the one that received it.

However, Gourmet decided to eat me when I still haven't regenerated completely. He obtained my powers but with my regenerative abilities, I cannot die so I lived inside his body and soon enough, I began to take over his body and here I am now! I now have the ability to read thoughts and coupled that with my regenerative powers, it's pretty much impossible to defeat me!"

Elder Toguro charged at his opponent but Kurama released a thick fog from his sleeves, surrounding the two of them in it. Elder Toguro grinned as he read Kurama's thoughts. "You can't hide from me… you're… right here!"

Toguro turned around and sliced Kurama's heart but to his surprise, Kurama merely smiled at him. Elder Toguro looked shocked for a moment before snarling and slashing wildly at Kurama. "Take this! I'm going to tear you apart! Argh! Why won't you die! Die! Die!"

Meanwhile, Kurama slowly walked out of the thick fog even though Toguro was supposed to still be shouting, charging and slashing at 'Kurama' inside the fog. The fog dispersed moments later and it revealed Elder Toguro but he was strangely connected to a demon tree. He seems paralyzed although he was still screaming why he can't kill his enemy.

"Wow! What is this tree called?" Ranma asked, walking towards Kurama with a curious look.

Kurama chose to answer him. "Janen Ju… I planted its seed when I wrapped my rose whip around Gourmet's head the first time. Once it has taken over a person's body, he will hallucinate non-stop until he dies and since Toguro is practically immortal, he will keep on seeing my illusion over and over again…"

"Is that so? It is very impressive but I think you should watch your step a little bit more…"

Kurama quickly looked down and found himself being 'eaten' by the shadow.

* * *

"I told you before, didn't I? You may be faster, you may be stronger, but you still cannot defeat me." Sensui said as he countered Yusuke's punch with a kick to the stomach, sending the current Reikai Tantei's body to be slammed onto a wall.

Their fight continued for a few more moments before it became repetitive. First, Sensui would use the Reikou Resshuu Shien Dan on Urameshi and Yusuke would frantically try to dodge the homing attacks but he will get nailed by it in the end. This process continued on and on until Yusuke eventually got close enough to attack Sensui with his fists.

Yusuke finally got a hit in, sending Sensui crashing into the ceiling and then dropping into the lake. When Sensui got out of it though, his shirt was now gone and Yusuke's eyes widened when he saw the numerous scars all over the ex-Tantei's body.

Sensui dominated the Tantei once more, saying that Yusuke only has his straight up fighting style, making him extremely predictable, and he does mean predictable. But Yusuke countered by doing quite a few unpredictable things like running randomly around the place and then swimming in the lake, causing Sensui to blink a few times.

Their fight resumed with Yusuke punching wildly at Sensui and when Sensui went for his counter, Yusuke wrapped his now wet shirt around the ex-Tantei's wrist to prevent it. Yusuke grinned, he has him now. "You're finished Sensui!"

**Bang!**

* * *

Inside the shadow, Itsuki couldn't help but smile as he looked at his captives, which were Kuwabara, Mitarai, Hiei and Kurama. "Ranma-kun's right you know, you should watch your step. For your information, you four are at my dimension, more specifically, inside my shadow demon."

"What?"

Itsuki sighed. "You are trapped inside another dimension and you have no means of getting out of this place until I let you out willingly or you somehow break the dimensional barrier here. Mitarai knows what I'm talking about, and it is you Kuwabara. If you can call forth your dimensional blade just like you did with your battle with Mitarai, you can easily get out of this place."

"Or we can make our own way out of here." Hiei said, already preparing to attack the demon but he was immediately stopped by Kurama as he grabbed his shoulder.

"No! We can't risk it!" Kurama tried to explain.

"What are you talking about?"

Itsuki laughed. "It seems that you figured it out Kurama. If I die, then all of you shall be trapped inside this dimension forever so killing me is definitely out of the question."

* * *

Back at the center of the cave, Koenma just arrived at the center and he was just in time to stop Sensui from putting a hole in Yusuke's head. Urameshi has already been shot a few times by Sensui's Ki Kou Juu and Sensui was about to put him out of his misery when the 'kid with the pacifier' showed up. The ex-Reikai Tantei glared disdainfully at Koenma's adult form.

"Koenma…" Sensui snarled.

"Sensui, stop this madness. Please stop this attempt at destroying the humans!" Koenma pleaded.

The ex-Reikai Tantei smiled maniacally. "Sensui? Who are you calling Sensui? He's not here right now so he left me in charge to do all the dirty work! And hell no, we will not stop! We will dig a grave for all humans… by the powers of the seven of us!"

"What do you mean 'Sensui's not here'?"

'Sensui' chuckled. "Don't you get it, you idiot? I am not Sensui, I am one of the seven persons living inside this body!"

Koenma froze. "Seven persons? As in multiple personalities?"

"What do you think?" Sensui began, pointing his gun at his chest. "Sensui created us. He needed us when he had nowhere to go. He accepted us one by one as he began to lose his faith in humanity! Except for you and that loudmouth Kuwabara, no one else from your group has seen the real Sensui. The one you have been talking to has been one of his personalities, the philosopher, and then there's me."

Koenma calmly gazed at this personality of Sensui. He removed the pacifier from his mouth and powerful waves of energy soon start to come out of it. "I see… but I don't care about that. See this, Sensui? My pacifier gathers my pure reiki into it and it can be used to destroy or to capture even the most powerful demons, this seal is called the evil sealing ring. I will not hesitate to use it against you Sensui, so either you give up or I will seal both your body and your soul!"

Sensui went silent after that. "Che… Sensui? Sensui?! What do you think about this kid's threat?" he asked himself while looking up to the ceiling for a few seconds. "Eheh, Sensui doesn't want to talk to you…"

"What?"

"You heard me… Sensui doesn't want to talk to you! Go ahead, try and seal us! It'll be fun to see your reaction after you fail. Maybe you'll cry like the four year old child that you are!" Sensui grinned, signaling for Koenma to blast him with the sealing ring.

It was then that Yusuke chose to step in and interfere, even with his current injuries. He grabbed Koenma's pacifier, after punching Koenma on the stomach, and placed it in his pocket, he doesn't need that thing to fight. He charged at this persona once more but like before, he found himself being toyed around. He did manage to counter this maniac's attacks though. He punched him multiple times in the chest and on the face that sent Sensui crashing to the ground as he skidded backwards.

Yusuke was trying to catch his breath when all of a sudden Sensui stood up, but there was something different about him. His face was so serene, so at peace. Sensui walked up to the Reikai Tantei and offered his hand to him. "Hello, my name is Sensui Shinobu, pleased to meet you."

Yusuke slapped the hand away, which Sensui took as an insult. Sensui swiftly kicked Urameshi's face and then he twisted the tantei's arm a little, just before grabbing Yusuke's hand and shaking it himself. "I'm pleased to have finally met you, Urameshi."

The real Sensui chose to unleash his power moments later. A golden aura started to seep out of his body, the ground shook from the power Sensui was emitting, and his power went up through the ceiling and out of Irima cave for every human in the area to see. A large hole was all that's left of the ceiling afterwards.

Seeing the shock on his opponent's faces, Sensui decided to explain a little bit. "As you know, there are two kinds of ki, they are youki and reiki. Both are used by demons and humans respectively. This energy however, is different. It is a special kind of ki called Sei Kou Ki. Long ago, humans who saw demons and humans perform this technique were believed to be angels, this is also where the legend of angels originated. This is the most powerful form of energy a human or a demon can ever hope to acquire."

The one-sided battle continued between Yusuke and Sensui, which only lasted for a few seconds before Sensui knocked the living daylights out of Urameshi. That's when Koenma chose to grab the pacifier that fell out of Yusuke's pocket and immediately pointed it towards Sensui.

"Mafuu Kan!"

Sensui screamed as he tried to counter Koenma's sealing powers with his Sei Kou Ki. At first, it would appear that Koenma was going to win but Sensui fought back by unleashing a little more of his power, much to Koenma's surprise. The ex-tantei managed to grab the pacifier with his hand moments later and then he crushed it all the while saying that all of their efforts are futile. He swiftly kicked Koenma with enough force to send him way back onto the corner of the cave. "Well, are you still up to it, Urameshi?"

Yusuke staggered to his feet and gazed at Sensui with those fiery eyes. "It won't be long now… I can feel it starting to awaken… I can feel it coursing through my body!" Yusuke said with a somewhat maniacal smile as he wiped some blood off his mouth.

Sensui must've felt it too because he continued his attacks with renewed vigor, there was just something about Urameshi that makes him far more dangerous than anything he has encountered. Though it wasn't the first time he felt something like this, he first experienced this once, when he was fighting his little brother Ranma.

"Stop it Sensui!" Koenma pleaded once more.

"What an annoying man you are. I know the reason why your attack didn't work. You used some of the ki in the pacifier to bring my mother back to life, didn't you? My brother told me you could do those things… it doesn't matter now, what matters is that I will get a second chance at killing my mother!" Ranma shouted in glee, blasting Koenma with a ki blast that sent him flying back. "Come on niichan, finish it already, it's getting rather boring anyway."

Sensui smiled and slowly approached Yusuke's bloody form. He grabbed him by the hair and stared directly into his eyes. "Get up. I'm going to kill you now."

* * *

Inside Itsuki's dimension, Kuwabara kneeled down as he watched Sensui continue to beat the hell out of their leader and friend. _'This isn't happening! C'mon Yusuke, you can beat him, I know you can!' _He cupped his hands but nothing was coming out of it, he still couldn't call out his spirit sword much less his dimensional sword.

Kurama, and even Hiei, gritted their teeth in frustration. They feel so useless while they helplessly watch Yusuke get toyed around by Sensui. With Koenma's power gone, there is no one out there that could help the Reikai Tantei, it is only a matter of time now.

"No… can't be…" Kurama muttered, eyes widening by the minute. "He's… he's planning to do the same thing you did Kuwabara… he's planning to-"

Kuwabara immediately cut him off. "No! Never! Why is this happening?! Why can't I help him when he needs it?! Come out you stupid sword, please! Please come out! I have to help him! He… he… he's my friend, I can't stand to see him like this!"

Itsuki took a short glance at Kuwabara. "It is useless. We would have used you already if you can summon the dimension blade from the very beginning but like Sensui said, it was only a fluke when you successfully summoned it against Mitarai. You might as well sit back and enjoy the rest of the show."

"I don't care anymore." Hiei drew his sword, ready to fight this demon. "I'd rather die fighting Sensui rather than to stay here and do nothing! Now get out of my way or I will kill you!"

"The same goes for me." Kurama added in, going into his fighting stance. _'It's a small chance, but what else could we do? We may be stuck inside Itsuki's dimension forever if we kill him but if we defeat him, the dimension should have a small chance of collapsing as well.'_

"Yusuke!!!" Kuwabara yelled, his Jigen Tou dimension blade finally coming out from his hands. Itsuki's eyes widened at the scene, he could do nothing but scream to Sensui to finish Urameshi off before he and his shadow were sliced by Kuwabara's dimensional sword, allowing Hiei and the rest of the group to escape Itsuki's dimension.

Yusuke took one last look at them before Sensui drove his hand to the Reikai Tantei's heart. Ranma clapped happily while the rest of Urameshi's Team could only look at the scene in shock. Yusuke lifelessly dropped to the ground the same time the doorway fully opened, as if to signify the end of the human world. The ground began to shake, the cave slowly started to collapse and Koenma could do nothing but curse himself for all of this.

"It's over. The doorway is now fully open. I do regret that I didn't have time to watch the final part of the movie… how disappointing." Sensui said sadly while sitting on the television screen.

"You and me both, and here I thought that I'd have enough time to watch some pretty good anime… darn… I guess I'll just have to watch the re-runs later." Ranma grumbled in annoyance.

Kuwabara gritted his teeth while he was still staring at Yusuke's dead body. They will pay… they will pay for doing this. Kurama showed his anger by changing forms while Hiei already removed the bandages from his arms and his third eye was already open. They turned and faced the brothers but they were already floating in midair.

Ranma shrugged with a smile as he and his brother flew up and entered the Makai doorway. The three exchange glances before they followed the two inside…

* * *

===**Flashback**===

"Ha!" Nodoka shouted, slashing at the demon's arms but to her surprise, the wound regenerated a few moments later. She ducked to avoid the monster's extended arms and sharp fingers before countering with multiple ki-charged slashes to its body.

The demon chuckled. "Little girl, is that the best you can do?"

The auburn-haired teen scowled and threw a barrage of reiki waves at the demon but he just used his wings to deflect the attack. The demon threw a circular disc which expanded and rotated as it stopped in mid-air. Nodoka blocked the rotating blade with her sword and quickly parried it to the side.

Their battle lasted for quite some time, neither one of them could gain the upper hand, that is until the demon removed the Makai parasite on his chest, causing his powers to be released completely. Nodoka didn't stand a chance as his attacks became faster and stronger. He was overpowering her with every move.

The demon finally went for the finishing move when he formed a scythe-like weapon in his hands and swiftly slashed Nodoka, surrounding her with youki and ripping her clothes open. The move also caused the auburn-haired girl to be paralyzed as she fell down to the ground. The youkai smirked as he loomed over Nodoka's defenseless form while tears began to fall from Nodoka's eyes, knowing what was about to happen. _'No, please stop. Somebody help me please… no… no… noooooooooooo!!!'_

===**End Flashback**===

* * *

"Niichan, is Itsuki-niichan alright?" Ranma asked in concern.

Sensui gave him a reassuring smile. "It would take more than that to kill him. He's fine Ranma, he'll just need some time to recover from that attack."

Ranma nodded and smiled back as the two proceeded to fly to the other end of the tunnel.

"What is this place?" Kuwabara asked his two teammates. He found himself floating as he entered the doorway.

"This is the dimensional tunnel that connects the two realms, Ningenkai and Makai. It's a long ride to the other side and we'll probably encounter the Reikai barrier before we catch up to Sensui and Ranma." Kurama explained.

Hiei was lost in his own thoughts. _'I'll probably know the answer when we get to the barrier.'_

Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama arrived at the dimensional barrier. They finally caught up with Sensui and Ranma, who were currently standing a few feet from the barrier and was seemingly waiting for them to arrive. Truth be told, the brothers want the Jigen Tou to be used on the barrier and Sensui knew that Kuwabara will use it just so that he could avenge Yusuke's death.

"If you want us, you'll have to go to Makai as well."

Without further delay, Sensui flew up and then backwards, harmlessly passing through the dimensional barrier. Next comes Ranma, he also flew backwards but he blinked when he heard something crackling. He looked behind him and the energy barrier seemed to be reacting to his presence. He shrugged and pressed on but he received one big surprise when he reached the actual barrier…

"AHHHHHH!!!" Ranma screamed as the barrier prevented his entire body from passing through it. Sensui's, along with everyone else's eyes widened at the scene before them.

"I knew it." Hiei muttered.

* * *

===**Flashback**===

"No-chan! No-chan! What happened?! Answer me, No-chan!" Ayame pleaded, shaking the frozen girl back and forth in an attempt to snap her out of it. The spirit girl herself froze when she arrived at the place. Nodoka's clothes were torn, a few cuts and bruises on her arms and her face and electric arcs were coursing through her body. Just a few feet from the Reikai Tantei lies the corpse of one of the demons they were after, its body was cut in half by Nodoka's Arataka blade.

Nodoka turned to the side and stared blankly at Ayame. Slowly, her eyes began to widen upon recalling what has happened. She screamed as she unleashed her power, knocking the spirit girl backwards. She shakily got up, grabbed her sword and proceeded to slash the monster's body a few more times before deciding to burn it with her brightly glowing reiki. _'Why only now?! Why couldn't I control you a little earlier?!'_

Ayame could only watch in shock as her friend continued to blast the demon's corpse. She understood what happened now. Her friend's torn and bloody clothes, the signs of struggle, and the bruises on her arms and legs… Nodoka was raped by this demon.

She could only hope and pray that it does not result in the worst possible scenario, she knew her friend and her beliefs better than anyone. Nodoka despises demons, mainly because of her ancestors' history, and this incident has just driven her right off the edge. If she has a child, a demon child at that, she'll completely flip and will probably start killing demons at will, without any concern for the humans that get in her way.

A few weeks later, Ayame's fears came true and she got Nodoka's reaction just right. She was practically glowing when she walked the streets of Tokyo, sword in hand. She mercilessly slashed the demons that she spotted, not minding that a few humans got killed by the force behind those attacks. Even when the Reikai Special Defense Team arrived to stop her, it took a couple of hours to actually knock the woman down. By that time, several buildings have already been destroyed and the human lives lost were more than Ayame could take.

Enma Daioh immediately dismissed Nodoka as a Reikai Tantei and Koenma glumly agreed to it. The incident was covered up pretty well by Reikai so she doesn't have to be worried about being arrested. She was also being monitored by Reikai from that point on, just in case something like that happens again. Ayame chose to stay by her friend's side a little longer, she can't help it but she feared for the life of the child inside Nodoka's womb. Monster or no, a life is still a life, but that is something Nodoka refuses to believe even after all this time.

Ayame had lost count at how much Nodoka attempted suicide. She kept on reasoning with her friend but Nodoka was stubborn as stubborn can get. She can't blame her though, the thought of having a child with a demon, and the guilt in knowing that she killed hundreds, if not thousands, of people without any good reason. You can add to that the pressure in keeping this huge secret from her parents and finally, that damned engagement with that fat scoundrel.

In the end, Nodoka reluctantly agreed to keep the child. She forced herself to marry Genma Saotome for the sake of keeping her secret, her shame. The rest was history…

===**End Flashback**===

* * *

Ranma dropped to the ground moments later. His body was badly burned, various cuts were all over his body but the most noticeable was that his tattoo was pulsating like a heartbeat. "W-What… is going… on?!"

"Youkai…"

"What…?"

Hiei closed his eyes. "You have youkai blood in you. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you're a very powerful youkai, Ranma, that's why you couldn't pass through the barrier. And I thought I recognized that mark on your cheek, that mark belonged to one of the elder tribes of Makai. They have existed for thousands of years before the current rulers of Makai decided to wipe them out hundreds of years ago."

"You can add to that the fact that your mother hates you so much, almost as much as she hates me and Hiei, whom she knew were youkai…" Kurama said softly. __

"What? You mean to tell me this psycho's mother hated him? Is that why he's like this Kurama?" Kuwabara asked tightly. Though he doesn't like it at the moment because of Yusuke's death, he could tell that Ranma isn't all that bad when they first met.

Kurama nodded sadly before bowing his head. Then he suddenly looked up when he heard someone laughing, it was Ranma. His eyes widened when a very powerful golden aura began to seep out of the young man's body, much like what Sensui did earlier. _'Is he as strong as Sensui too?! Do we even have a chance in this fight?'_

"She hated me because of this? She hated me because of this? She hated me because of this? She hated me because of this? She hated me because of this? She hated me because of this? She hated me because of this?" Ranma muttered to himself again and again. Then he laughed at how pathetic a reason it was to hate somebody.

His hands started to twitch, his mark pulsated, tears began to form around his eyes but there was no look of anger, hatred or insanity on his face. Instead, he had a look that caused everyone but Sensui to be puzzled. It was a look he had since he was a child, a look of innocence. Without any warning whatsoever, he turned around and faced the Reikai barrier and before anybody could even react, he drove both of his hands into it.

"Stop it Ranma! You'll be killed if you continue to do that!" Kurama shouted.

"Idiot." Hiei muttered.

Ranma ignored both of them and pressed on in his attempt to break the barrier. His shirt was quickly being ripped apart, next came his flesh and finally, his entire body was starting to be burned alive. He screamed louder as he let loose all of his Sei Kou Ki on the barrier.

Sensui was about to blast his little brother so that he'll be pushed away from the barrier but he stopped when he saw the impossible actually happening. Energy arcs were beginning to appear around Ranma as the barrier was being bended slowly but surely. _'I knew he had the potential to cut through dimensions as well but… this much power with his bare hands…'_

Ranma screamed one more time. His hands were bending the barrier faster now, much to the shock and amazement of everyone present. With one last burst of power, he swiftly moved his hands to the side and it finally ripped the barrier in two. He staggered quite a bit before he got a hold of himself. He looked forward, gazing intently at the hole at the end of the tunnel. _'Home…'_

* * *

"Impossible!" Kurama shouted in absolute shock. Ranma should've died with that much exertion of his powers coupled with the opposing power behind the Reikai dimensional barrier. Yet here he is, standing right in front of them with only a couple of deep wounds and burns. He really did manage to rip the barrier in two with his bare hands and lived to tell about it.

Ranma shakily walked towards the other side of the barrier. He was bloodied and his wounds were pretty severe but he doesn't seem to mind any of them. He stopped and turned his head to the side and looked at his big brother with sad eyes. "Do you hate me too? Now that you know that I'm really a youkai? Do you hate me just as my mother hated me?"

Sensui walked towards him and patted him on the head, much to the surprise of everybody else. He then hugged the bloodied boy tightly while whispering something into his ear. "No, I don't hate you. In fact, I like you even more, now that I've found out that you're a youkai."

Ranma sobbed on his brother's shoulder. He understood him, he still cares for him and he stands by his side even when knowing that he is a youkai. _'It's warm, just like Itsuki-niichan… is this what being loved really feels like?'_ He thought with a small smile. He got a hold of himself a few moments later. He smiled sincerely at Sensui before turning and facing the rest of Urameshi's group. "Now then… shall we go to our realm? Shall we go to our home, Kurama-san, Hiei-san? Let's go, let's go to Makai."

Both 'angels' flew towards the end of the tunnel, with Urameshi's group following closely behind.

Hiei noticed the thoughtful look on Kurama's face. "Is something bothering you? That is besides the obvious fact that those two can probably wipe the floor with us."

"Yes, I was wondering about the hybridation between humans and demons."

"Oh, that…"

Kurama placed a hand on his chin. "To my knowledge, when a demon and a human copulate, their child is not necessarily going to be a demon or a hybrid. The child will have a bigger chance of being a 'normal' human rather than those two. What's more puzzling is that the first descendant never becomes a demon in all recorded history. Usually it takes up a few generations before the demon blood awakens but Ranma is…"

"Is a first descendant Majin, a first in history." Hiei finished with a serious look.

"You noticed it too, huh? That could only mean that his 'father' is one of the S-class when he forced himself on Ranma's mother, they're the only ones who can pull something like that to someone of Nodoka's power. I hate to admit it but that woman is strong, way too strong in her current state.

Furthermore, Ranma's 'father' was from one of the elder tribes of Makai and you know as well as I do that those tribes have more secrets than the entire Makai and Ningenkai realms combined so you never know what else could happen to this Majin, we already saw him split the barrier in two with his bare hands."

Hiei scowled. "I don't care, I'll beat him even if it's the last thing I do."

Kurama smiled slightly. "Yes, that's the only thing we can do."

Two humans, two demons and one hybrid reached the end of the tunnel. They found themselves in the sky, falling to the ground at high speed. Ranma and Sensui used their Sei Kou Ki to fly to safety while Kurama used one of his plants, the Fuyouka Shokubutsu, the floating plant. It is a butterfly-like plant that Kurama attached to his back so that he can be able to fly, with Hiei and Kuwabara hanging from both sides of it.

"Beautiful…" Ranma whispered. He was currently looking at the ground below where thick, lush forests and tall mountains galore. "So this is Makai, it's far more peaceful than I imagined."

"Indeed, so this is the world of the demons that I killed…" Sensui said sadly.

After a soft landing by Sensui and Ranma, and somewhat of a rough one by the rest, Sensui immediately went to business. He quickly demonstrated his Spirit Armor or Ki Kou Tou I while Ranma used his Sei Kou Ki to form several orbs around his body before turning them into a weapon, a glowing cross boomerang.

Kuwabara immediately went after Sensui, with Kurama not too far behind. Kuwabara already knew that he was no match for this man, even with the use of his dimensional sword but if he can just take Sensui's life, he knew Yusuke would've wanted that. He understood what Yusuke was implying when he looked at them just before Sensui delivered the final blow because he did the same thing when he performed a suicidal charge at the younger Toguro during the dark tournament… 'It's up to you guys now'.

"Here! Play with this for awhile!" Ranma shouted, tossing the boomerang at Hiei. The boomerang surprisingly stopped in mid-strike and floated in the air. It expanded and began spinning around in its place. Its speed was so fast that it created a mini-vacuum which forces Hiei to jump a few feet back to avoid being sucked up into it but Ranma anticipated the move so he was already behind the Jaganshi at that time.

Hiei turned and tried to slash Ranma but he was too fast for him. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Hiei held out both of his hands and it was suddenly covered in flames. "Whatever it takes, I promise that I'll destroy you! Jao Ensatsu Rengokushou!"

Both of his hands were now covered in flames. He glared at Ranma before dashing towards his grinning opponent. His flame-covered punches struck the young man a couple of times, Ranma was pushed back by the force behind the punches but Hiei noticed that Ranma was still smiling. He was going to wonder why that is but he got his answer when the cross boomerang suddenly buried itself onto his back. _'Damn… so careless…'_

Kurama arrived just in time to block Ranma's next attack on Hiei. He summoned his Katakana or Rose whip and then he wrapped it around his arm, with one sharp point at the end. Ranma attacked first but he found himself surrounded by several rose petals, he looked at them in wonder before wincing in pain when the petals started to slash his body.

"It won't work against me, Kurama!" Ranma yelled as he threw his boomerang a few feet in front of him. It proceeded to spun in the same place like before and sucked in the petals and unfortunately, Kurama as well. Kurama screamed when the blades rotated against his flesh but he immediately countered by blocking it with his thorn-covered arm, halting the attack. He dropped to the ground while clutching his wound.

"Ensatsu Koukuryu Ha!"

Ranma's eyes widened when he turned around and saw a huge black dragon wave coming right at him. He positioned his boomerang in front of him in hopes to reduce the power behind the attack. The boomerang quickly shattered, leaving Sensui's brother wide open. Ranma took the brunt of the attack as he let loose his Sei Kou Ki. It lasted for a few more minutes until Ranma managed to parry Hiei's black dragon wave to the side. He finished it off by slashing it in two with his hands, he blinked when he noticed that his fingertips were extended forward, glowing with youki.

"Eheh, cool!" he exclaimed, staring at his fingers in amazement. It was like elder Toguro's but he can't bend it at impossible angles, he could only extend or retract it, although his fingers can probably cut through dimensions now. He noticed that the three were standing between him and his big brother. He grinned at his brother and Sensui nodded in response, they dashed past their three opponents multiple times, punching and kicking them like crazy before they stopped and spun around a couple of times.

"Double Reppa Fuujin Ken!" The brothers shouted right before two huge hurricanes appeared out of nowhere, swallowing Hiei, Kurama and Kuwabara inside it. While inside, countless number of wind blades started ripping through their body and they could do nothing to prevent the attacks. What's worse is that Sensui and Ranma sent a few reiki balls into the hurricane as well and the projectiles detonated themselves whenever they came into contact with them.

The hurricane went on for a few more minutes before finally dissipating, sending Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama crashing to the ground at high speed. The brothers stared nonchalantly at the downed trio while the three of them could do nothing but clench their fists tightly.

_'We… we… can't win…'_

* * *

"Koenma, who are these people?" Mitarai asked, staring at the nine people who suddenly appeared out of nowhere and they looked as if that they're trying to seal the Makai door before any demons start to come out of it.

"They're the Reikai Special Defense Team. Their job is to stop any crisis between the three worlds. They are one of Reikai's strongest groups and they can handle almost anything if they combine their powers. Botan must've informed my father about the situation here so he sent this group to seal the doorway before it gets out of hand."

One man from the group, the only one with the mustache, approached Koenma hesitantly. "Koenma-sama, I am the captain of this squad. I have some urgent news from Reikai, your father wishes for your immediate return, Koenma-sama." He stated bluntly.

Koenma shook his head. "No, I will not return to Reikai. I have lost three Reikai Tantei already and I shall take responsibility for my actions."

"I see… but by staying here, you might be crushed from what we're about to do."

"What…?"

The captain signaled for three people from his squad to surround Urameshi's dead body. "Our orders are from your father himself. And those orders are: to seal the Makai door as soon as possible, to stop any demons that might attempt to go through the barrier during that time and finally, to completely destroy the body of the Reikai Tantei known as Urameshi Yusuke."

Koenma's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?! He's dead! Can't you see that? Don't tell me you'll destroy his soul too?!"

"We have been monitoring Urameshi's life up to this point. His heritage is also one of the reasons as to why he was chosen as a Reikai Tantei. Forgive me Koenma-sama but it is by order of Enma Daioh himself, someone with evil blood must be destroyed before he gets a chance to awaken. Men! Gather your energy and prepare to fire on my order!"

"Yes sir!"

Koenma stepped in front of Yusuke's body. "No, I will not allow this! You can go back to my father and tell him to do it him-umph!"

The captain punched the already weak Koenma in the gut, causing him to fall to his knees as he cursed the Reikai Defense Team.

"Sir! It's Urameshi!"

Koenma and the captain stared at the now floating body of the Reikai Tantei. The captain clenched his fists and immediately turned and faced his group.

"Stop the rebirth! Hit him with all you've got!!!"

"No! Stop!" Koenma pleaded to no avail.

Multiple energy blasts made their way towards the floating body of Urameshi. But just when they were about to hit, a blue blur suddenly came down from the huge hole Sensui made earlier and proceeded to use its own body to protect the Reikai Tantei from harm. A few moments passed and as the dust settles, everyone's eyes widened when they saw that the one protecting Urameshi is a large, blue, phoenix-like bird.

"Puu… it's alright. I'm fine now." A voice whispered to the blue bird.

Puu spread his wings and Koenma, Mitarai and the Reikai Special Defense Team's eyes widened when they saw Urameshi Yusuke, alive and well. The captain of the defense team muttered something to himself, saying that they have failed to stop it and that the evil within Urameshi has awoken completely while Koenma ignored his injuries, shakily stood up and slowly approached the supposedly dead Reikai Tantei.

"Y-Yusuke?"

The young Tantei could do nothing but grin at that, but it was more like an evil grin than anything else. He let loose his power and a massive, reddish aura came to life. It was none other than youki… "It's time to finish what we started, Sensui, Ranma!"

* * *

****

**AN: **I've dropped a few clues as to what kind Ranma's real father is, from Ranma's rapidly changing Majin form, his moves, etc. Well, until next time, Ja ne!

**Next: This is my home… Makai**

_The Majins have awoken, but who are these people watching them?_


	4. This is my home, Makai

_A Ranma ½ / Yu Yu Hakusho / Sakura Wars / Inu Yasha / Darkstalkers / Devil May Cry / Multi-crossover_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ranma ½ and Yu Yu Hakusho or any other anime/game titles for that matter. Though I sometimes wish I was a class-S youkai…heh.

===

"Why do you still fight? It's clearly obvious that you are no match for the two of us. You should just give it up, and maybe I'll be kind and kill all of you painlessly…" Ranma said with a smile.

Kurama gritted his teeth as he stood up. "Why are you still doing this? You have nothing more to prove. You already killed your own mother, the source of all your suffering, so why are you still trying to destroy Ningenkai?"

"For your information, my mother still lives, and it's because of that meddlesome Koenma!" Ranma yelled with absolute contempt. "But that's not the reason… no, not anymore. From what I saw in that Black List Tape that Reikai kept, people are just pathetic, worthless bags of flesh that doesn't deserve to live. They kill each other, lie and betray people. And what did those demons do to them to deserve such punishment? Humans cut off their limbs, torture them to death, and bathe in their blood… for what? Pleasure? Don't kid me! Hiei, Kurama, both of you know what I'm talking about. What if those demons were your family?"

Kurama paused while Hiei's eyes widened slightly. Ranma does have a point, his sister Yukina was tortured by those selfish humans, specifically that bastard Tarukane, for her ice tear gem that she produced when she cried. The Jaganshi shook his head, the kid may have a point but that's not important right now.

Ranma saw the determined looks on their faces and couldn't help but sigh out loud. "I guess you really do love these humans. That's really too bad, I would've liked to know the two of you better but I guess that wouldn't happen now. Come on, I still have to make all of you pay for what you did to Itsuki-niichan!"

Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei got in their fighting stances while Sensui and Ranma casually stood a few feet from them. Ranma took a step forward but he stopped when a loud and thunderous boom echoed around the area. Yusuke's group frantically looked around for the source but Sensui already knew where it came from. He looked up at the portal connecting the two realms and gaped slightly at the blue phoenix and the two people riding on it.

"Urameshi…"

===

**_Dark Ascension_**

_By Insane Blight_

_This is my home… Makai_

* * *

"Sorry I'm late guys, I was dead you know." Yusuke said with an evil grin as he hopped down Puu, with Koenma following right behind him. His body was still emitting a huge, reddish glow that was quite intimidating to everyone, including Sensui, for reasons he could not understand. "Hey, you're not going to have me outta the picture that easily!"

"Y-Y-Y-Yusuke?!" the group, except Hiei, stuttered.

Hiei crossed his arms and let out a puff of breath. "I knew someone like you can't die that easily. Heh, how many hybrids do we have to meet before this day ends anyway?" he muttered with a small smile, his youki came back stronger than before.

Yusuke laughed. "It's nice to see you too, Hiei!"

Kurama smiled and shook his head. Yusuke has demon's blood, he should've known. In fact he should've detected it earlier if it hadn't been for Ranma. He thought the small burst of youki he felt during the fight between Sensui and Yusuke came from that hybrid, who was watching the fight rather intently. That was why he didn't make the connection with his friend's own awakening. "I'm glad you're okay."

"How?!" shouted a dumbfounded Kuwabara. "Y-Y-Y-You're supposed to be dead!!! Are you a g-ghost again, Yusuke?!" he asked in a shaky voice. He let off a girlish scream and he slowly backed away when Yusuke's evil grin got even wider. "Ah! Get away from me!"

"Bwahahahahahah! I'm alive you idiot!" He laughed out while clutching his sides, and then he frowned as he lightly tapped his chest with his fist. "But it is kinda weird that my heart still hasn't restarted yet. Hey, work already dammit! Work!" he tapped his chest a few more times before he heard the laughter of both Kurama and Hiei. "Hey! What's so damn funny?!"

Hiei was too busy laughing to answer but fortunately, Kurama managed to keep it in for a little while. "It's not beating anymore because you're already using your 'other' heart." He explained in between laughter.

"My what?" he asked dumbly.

"His what?!" Kuwabara bellowed.

Hiei tried to continue for Kurama. "What he means is you are now using your demon heart just like us. It probably happened when your youkai heritage was finally awakened."

Blink. Blink. "…Oh, is that so? Oh well, whatever. I don't care about such things. I came here for one thing only. Sensui! I wanna finish our fight! Get your ass over here, right now!" Yusuke yelled as he pointed towards the two Sei Kou Ki users. His youki flared once more to make his point.

Ranma cocked an eyebrow at the confidence in Yusuke's voice. He took a step forward before he was halted by his brother's outstretched arm. "Oh… was he referring to you?" he asked innocently.

Sensui chuckled slightly. "I really don't know, but I would like to finish what I started if that's okay with you?"

"Eh." He shrugged. "Just be careful, he's gotten stronger than before."

"I know, but you should've paid a lot more attention to your own safety Ranma. You really shouldn't have been so reckless with your powers…" He replied with an unusual amount of concern to which Ranma responded with a weak smile.

"I think… it's already… too… late… for lectures…" Ranma gasped out. His face was now contorted with pain but he held a hand up before Sensui can rush to his side. "I'll be fine… just go and finish this so we can get Itsuki-niichan and go home, okay?"

"Okay, I promise."

Kuwabara, Hiei, and Koenma hopped onto Puu's back as it took off while Kurama used his plants to create yet another Fuyouka Shokubutsu for him to use. Ranma on the other hand, used his Sei Kou Ki to join the group in the air as they watched the fight between Sensui and the newly reborn Yusuke with interest.

* * *

"Well, aren't you gonna fight us?!" Kuwabara asked as he looked at Ranma with a glare.

Ranma shook his head, turned towards the teen and smiled. "No, I'm not going to fight you. You three are in no condition to fight anyway so that's no fun. Besides…" he looked at Hiei and chuckled. "…someone's technique has definitely given me a very serious injury. Though I have no idea how I missed it."

Hiei ignored the dark-haired teen and continued to watch the fight between Sensui and Yusuke. Kurama on the other hand, gaped at the large burn mark on Ranma's left shoulder, all the way down to his lower chest area. The boy's breathing was erratic and he was sweating profusely as he obviously tried to hide his discomfort. Even though it was healing at a very slow pace, it seemed to be of little help. _'Ensatsu Koukuryu Ha… he did try to destroy it with his bare hands…'_

Kuwabara kept on taunting Ranma to no avail, but Koenma looked at the dark-haired teen with sad eyes. _'First Nodoka, then Sensui, and now you and Yusuke… it's all my fault. I should be the one who should suffer in your place Ranma. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry… I can sense it now. I can sense your suffering, your slow death…'_

Ranma felt blood trickle down one side of his mouth which caused him to waver slightly in midair. _'Am I dying? I feel so weak now… no, not yet… I can't die yet… not until they pay for their sins.' _He was now visibly shaking, which Kurama and Hiei eventually noticed when they turned their attention towards him.

Hiei just stared at him, no emotion whatsoever. Ranma destroyed the barrier with his bare hands, and he still managed to block his attack after doing such a feat. In all his life, he has only heard of one family of higher nobles who could accomplish the complete destruction of the Reikai barrier. _'As impossible as it may seem, but I think that you are from that family of nobles. I've heard their abilities that were similar to yours, though I also heard that you were all wiped out hundreds of years ago…'_

Kurama gazed at Ranma's wounds intently. Odd, Hiei's attack shouldn't have affected him this much but now that he thought about it, he probably had that injury when he broke the barrier, and Hiei's attack must've been all that he could take at that point. Kurama sighed as he could only look at the teen with pity. _'I'm afraid that the wounds are fatal.'_

All of them were brought back to the present when a tall pillar of youki formed from out of nowhere. The group had to cover their eyes from the blinding light and the huge amount of wind gusts it emitted. Ranma was the exception though, he snarled the minute he saw that. It was as if something inside him woke up, and it was now giving him an uncontrollable amount of rage that was pointed towards the one who created that pillar. "Ah…! My… body…!" he cried out as he started to descend to the ground at high speed.

Kuwabara and the rest wanted to help him, but they were frozen in shock at the scene below them. Yusuke, at least they thought it was Yusuke, stepped out of the red pillar of youki and as the dust settled, they gasped when they saw the drastic changes their friend went through. Yusuke now has long hair that reached down his legs, and abstract markings on his face and chest that was a little bit similar to the ones on Ranma's face.

"What the…? Yusuke? What happened to him?" Kuwabara asked to nobody in particular.

"Majin…" Hiei muttered. _'Has he awakened completely?'_

"Everyone, look!" Koenma shouted in amazement.

Ranma's eyes widened when he saw the scene in front of him. Sensui was literally being pounded to the ground by this monster. His brother couldn't even fight back. It was a surprise considering that Sensui was pretty much even in his fight with Urameshi not too long ago. That seemed to be the least of his concerns because his rapidly increasing rage, combined with his current condition, was tearing him apart as he continued his descent. In the end, rage finally took over when he witnessed the one thing he thought was impossible, Sensui was hurled into the air as Yusuke pointed his energy-covered finger towards him. "No! Brother, look out!"

It was useless. The blast struck Sensui dead on, causing him to be flung towards a forested area, several miles away from the actual battleground. Yusuke just laughed at what he has done, which was totally uncharacteristic on his part. For Ranma though, that only made him see red even more. He didn't care about his current state. All he wanted now was to make that demon pay! "You bastard!"

* * *

"You bastard!" he yelled as he swooped down and charged at Majin Yusuke with his remaining ounce of strength. "I'm gonna kill you!"

Kurama's eyes widened when he heard that. "No! Ranma! You'll die if you put any more effort into your body!" he yelled but it was all in vain. Ranma was now too enraged to listen to anyone. Not to mention that this Yusuke will probably make short work out of him in his current condition. "Dammit, I'm going after him!" he said to himself, determination evident in his voice. He flapped his wings and quickly went after the enraged hybrid.

"Puu, take us down too." Koenma calmly asked. The phoenix complied and swooped down, almost making Kuwabara lose his balance at the sudden change in course. _'Majin… the two are going to fight. Why?! Why doesn't it ever end?'_

Majin Yusuke tilted his head to the side and he couldn't help but smirk at the oncoming teen. "Well, well. What do we have here? Hmm… what's this? This aura… no, it can't be." he mumbled. His eyes narrowed as he tried to confirm his suspicions but to his surprise, Ranma's speed doubled, catching him off-guard and allowing the teen to punch him hard on the face. But the punch never did move him from the spot he was standing at.

"What in the world?" Ranma cried out in surprise.

"You pathetic interloper!" yelled Majin Yusuke with a wide grin. He twisted Ranma's arm and then he slammed the poor boy to the ground several times. Yusuke wasn't through though, he grabbed Ranma by the hair and he threw him onto a nearby large rock, destroying it as the collision took place. "Our powers are too different! S-class or not, you are no match for the higher creatures of Makai!"

Majin Yusuke remained on top of the heavily wounded teen, delivering punches covered in youki whenever he felt like it. The best part about it was that Ranma really was in no condition to fight, let alone defend those powerful punches. He just kept taking hit after hit, hits that would've killed groups of lower level demons. _'I guess I was wrong, no one in that demon family was this pathetically weak. All of them were a joy to fight against.' _He thought with a frown. He continued his attack while his eyes darted to the side. He sneered a bit when he saw Puu and the rest of the group ran towards him. "I should finish you off now."

Drawing back his right hand, Majin Yusuke's eyes had a maniacal look in them as he poured all of his youki into his hand. He gave Ranma one last evil smile before he punched him on the face, a punch that sent the teen flying to a nearby mountain. Majin Yusuke already thought that the battle was over. He was about to give the body back to its real owner but something caught his attention. He felt a sudden burst of youki to the place where he punched Ranma. He was surprisingly thrown back a few feet by the explosion that occurred seconds later. He planted his feet and he couldn't help but grin at the situation. "You're not a weakling after all."

A large amount of dust clouds appeared after the explosion. Right in the middle of it was Ranma. He was clutching his head tightly as he let out screams of agony. His current injuries were nothing to this newfound pain. It felt as if it was eating him alive. His youki flared once more, causing a new set of explosions that followed suit. His mind simply could not understand what was happening to him. His hatred as of that moment rivaled even that of his hate towards his mother. He screamed one last time as his body finally couldn't take the pain.

* * *

An evil laughter was heard by the group as the dust settled around the area. Majin Yusuke's eyes widened slightly when Ranma stepped out of it. "You… I see, so your kind still lives after all this time. Heh, looks like I have to finish the job I did hundreds of years ago."

Ranma now has slicked black hair, cold blue eyes, abstract markings on his both sides of his face, and semi-metallic, bat-like wings on his back. He was wearing a strange, midnight black clothes that, oddly enough, resembled a trenchcoat. The group can easily tell that his clothes were actually made of pure energy, a lot similar to Sensui's Ki Kou Tou I, but this one seemed to be a mixture of youki and Sei Kou Ki. Another thing that only Kurama noticed was that Ranma's wounds were now healing at an accelerated pace, faster than anything he has ever seen.

Majin Ranma stretched his wings as he gave his counterpart a very cold stare. "My kind? Oh, right. You must be one of the three demons that wiped them out, the so-called rulers of this realm."

Majin Yusuke smirked. "Not exactly, I am merely using this body to teach my descendant a lesson."

"I see…" Majin Ranma muttered. "Excuse me, but can I know the name of the demon that wiped out my kind? I think it is just appropriate to give you the proper respect that you deserve, even if I do not know of my ancestors. I have already heard of the dreaded Mukuro and the blind demon Yomi from Itsuki and my brother, but I do not know your name. For that, I apologize."

"I am Raizen, the last of the three rulers of Makai."

Majin Ranma chuckled slightly as he held up his hand. "No… I think you should change that to ex-ruler of Makai. I will destroy you and Urameshi for what you've done to my brother." He finished coldly, his youki flared around his body as well. "Well, are you ready to die?"

Majin Yusuke simply smirked and crossed his arms. "Big words for someone as weak as you… though if you really think that you can defeat me then you're welcome to try. I want to face a worthy opponent, not some thrash talking brat. Let's find out if you can back it up, cursed child."

Cursed Child? "It seems that you and I have a lot to talk about, why am I a cursed child for one. I'm gonna enjoy making you talk, oh, great ruler of Makai." He mocked as he bowed slightly.

"Did come to talk or did you come to fight?" Majin Yusuke asked in an irritated tone. His hands were already glowing with youki, and from the look on his face, it seemed that he can't wait to get his hands on his opponent. "Come on and make your move cursed child! I don't have all day!"

"You're right." Ranma whispered. He looked up and gave Majin Yusuke a maniacal grin of his own. "First, I'll rip out both of your arms and legs… then we can talk!"

* * *

The fight was too quick to follow for the group that was watching from the sidelines. Kuwabara kept rubbing his eyes, trying to see if he was hallucinating or not, Koenma frantically turned his head from side to side, Hiei's eyes narrowed and he had to focus his concentration to follow the two hybrids, and Kurama was really having quite a difficult time just trying to see the two hybrids trade blows. What he did notice was the odd wing structure at Ranma's back. "That's impossible…" he breathed out.

"What was that, Kurama?" Koenma inquired.

Kurama stared coldly at him. "Koenma, I think you should just tell us the entire story. There has been only one family with those kinds of wings, and they are one of the higher nobles of Makai. In YOUR reports, you said that they were wiped out hundreds of years ago by the three rulers because of what their former master did. Care to explain yourself? I'd really like to know what really happened back then."

By now, Kuwabara and Hiei stood beside the fox demon. Their eyes showed their interest in the subject as well. Knowing that the group wasn't going to take no for an answer, Koenma sighed and began to explain. "The report was not entirely false. As you and Hiei know, the original rulers of Makai were the Aensland family, the Voshtal family, and the Dohma family. The ones in charge were Berial Aensland, Galnan Voshtal, and Jedah Dohma. As you may have guessed, Jedah was the one who planned to destroy Berial to gain absolute control over Makai, thus pretty much sealing the fate of the Dohma family if he failed."

Koenma took a moment to look at the fight. "And failed he did. He was betrayed by his most trusted friend when he tried to carry out his plans and in turn, he was destroyed. Though his plan failed, Galnan and Berial soon died from unknown reasons anyway. The ones who took their place were the current rulers of Makai. They immediately hunted down the Dohma family because they heard that they were planning the same thing Jedah did. They were thought to have been wiped out at the time but…" he trailed off.

Kurama's eyes turned sad as he gazed at Ranma. "…But they suddenly appeared in Ningenkai around fifteen to seventeen years ago." He finished for him.

"Yes, the time when Nodoka was still a Reikai Tantei." That was all that needed to be said.

The group turned their heads back to the fight when they heard an anguished scream. It wasn't Ranma. The scream surprisingly came from Yusuke. They gaped when Yusuke was kneeling infront of Ranma, his face contorted in pain. His arms and legs were bound by some sort of red liquid. Ranma just looked at the scene infront of him with a smug smile.

"Yusuke!" screamed Kuwabara.

* * *

"As your descendant knows by now, some humans have the ability to manifest their hidden potentials in the form of territories. This is more likely to happen here in Makai and as much as I hate to admit it, I am part human so… I'd like to welcome you to my territory!" Majin Ranma grinned maniacally as more red blobs surrounded Yusuke's body right before attaching themselves to him. This caused an extreme amount of pain that made Yusuke scream out loud once more.

Majin Yusuke snarled as he struggled to get out of the blobs that have attached themselves onto his body. But the more he struggled, the more powerful the blobs became. The blobs eventually started to swallow him whole. He screamed one last time before the blobs encased him inside a large, circular, red orb. Energy arcs formed around the orb but it eventually died down.

"Now for the moment I've been waiting for." A large scythe formed on Ranma's hands as he said that. He raised it up high and was about to slash the red orb in two but he was never able to. His eyes were wide in shock when one of Yusuke's arms suddenly broke through the orb and proceeded to bury itself into his stomach, then he saw Yusuke's other hand tore down the orb. "How…? How did you escape my territory?"

Majin Yusuke quickly lifted Ranma up by the neck. He smirked a bit when he tightened his grip on the teen. "Did you really think that I can be contained by such a weak, human move? I should probably educate you about the different classes in Makai so you will not be confused." He punched Ranma in the chest. "First, there are various demon classes in Makai. Class D, which is the weakest, to class S, the most powerful." Again, Yusuke delivered another punch to Ranma's gut. "Next we have the lower and upper demons in each class. Your kind belongs to the lower S-class demons while I belong to the upper S-class! Do you get it now? Even if the two of us belong to the same class, our powers are just too different!"

Ranma could barely even move when Yusuke slammed his head to the ground. The possessed Majin repeated it over and over again. Each time it happened, the force behind it didn't weaken. It actually got a lot stronger than before. He was about to give up and join his brother in the afterlife had it not have been for a few words that came from Yusuke's mouth.

"Heh, I guess I'll stop playing around now. I'm getting bored fighting you."

Those words seemed to have brought some sort of life to Ranma. He kicked Yusuke in the face several times to force him to release his grip, and then he used his wings to fly up to distance himself from Yusuke. Yusuke on the other hand, started to run real fast. He ran so fast that it was almost impossible to locate him, almost. Ranma's territory has one other technique, and that was locating anyone, anywhere. "It's useless to do this Raizen! I can find you wherever you are!" he yelled as he concentrated in the air. It only took one second to do the job. His eyes snapped open, and he immediately dove for Yusuke's current location with one hand charged with Sei Kou Ki.

Ranma never did hit anything. Yusuke was simply not there. He was dumbfounded for a while before Yusuke appeared behind him. "I was there not too long ago, but you are just too slow!" He swatted Ranma with such force that it sent the dazed teen in the air. "Listen to me cursed child! Your family of nobles is dead! You have no place in this realm anymore, that demon family died by my hands!" Majin Yusuke shouted as he pointed his energy-covered finger towards the helpless, airborne hybrid. "Farewell to the last of the Dohma family!"

"Raizen!!!!" his last words before he was struck by Yusuke's fully-powered Rei Gun, or in this case, his fully-powered youki.

* * *

"Huh…? What? What am I doing?" Yusuke muttered to himself as he finally started to regain his senses and his control over his body. His eyes widened when he noticed that his energy was already gathered at the tip of his finger and it was now pointed towards a helpless Ranma. "What?! Stop! Stop it!"

_Sit back and watch! This is how you use your power!_

His body arched back as he launched the fully-charged blast. Majin Yusuke gave off one last evil grin before he went back to his normal self. He quickly looked up and his eyes widened when his blast was surprisingly fast, which pretty much made all of his warning attempts useless. "No! Ranma! Watch out! Get outta the way!"

"Raizen!!!" he heard Ranma yell out.

The youki blast sent the teen far off to the east, opposite to where Sensui was blasted earlier. Yusuke tried to go after Ranma, but he was hurled too far and too fast. It was impossible to locate him even with the help of Puu. He went down to his knees as he slammed his fist several times to the ground. He cursed loudly, so loud that the group started to wonder if he was okay in the head for the various things he was saying.

"Y-Yusuke?" Kuwabara started as he slowly approached the hybrid. "You are Yusuke right? How did you do that? And what's up with the hair and the weird tattoos?" he asked. He was totally dumbfounded by Yusuke's change in appearance.

"Yusuke, what happened to you?" Koenma added while Kurama and Hiei were surprisingly looking to the side with narrowed eyes. They just can't help but feel that they're being watched. They snapped out of it when the hybrid shot another blast from his Rei Gun upwards, scaring Kuwabara and Koenma as he did so.

"I didn't do any of those things! It wasn't me! I had no control over my body! I had nothing to do with it! It wasn't me dammit! It wasn't me!"

* * *

To the far north of the actual battleground, a tall man sat on his throne with a frown when he sensed the various powers present in the fight. He did manage to recognize two from the group. One was indeed Raizen, causing him to frown and wonder why he was involved in the fight. The other one made him chuckle to himself. Youko Kurama. It was truly a surprise to sense him again after all this time. "Well, my old friend, I have a feeling that you've gotten yourself into something you do not fully understand. Hahaha! I do think that it is only a matter of time before we meet again."

"Master Yomi, I have the results of the energy readings." An old man said as he walked into the room carrying a small, strange mechanical device. He looked up and saw Yomi's curious eyebrow. He coughed a few times before he began. "Ahem, as you have suspected, the power is coming from Raizen and a few demons that could possibly be his servants… is something the matter sir?"

Yomi chuckled. "I doubt that. I recognized one of them, and I can feel that he is not in league with Raizen. Thank you, that's all I needed to know. You may leave now." _'Raizen is planning something, I guess his time is already near. Hmm, Kurama… you and I have to talk about old times someday…'_

A few miles from Yomi's territory, a demon whose face was covered in bandages and spells stood at the top of a gigantic insect as it gazed at the direction of the fight. "Raizen, what are you up to? What is that energy I sensed near you? It's very similar to the family we destroyed years ago. Don't tell me that there are still survivors."

"Lady Mukuro…" a voice called from behind.

Mukuro turned and looked at her kneeling servant. "Well? What did you find out on your scouting mission?"

"Yes, well, one of the group looked like Raizen, but he was certainly different from him, weaker if I may be so blunt. I think that he could be related to the war god though." The servant paused when his master's eyes narrowed. He continued when Mukuro gave a slight nod. "I also recognized two of the three demons with him. One is the fox demon known as Youko Kurama while the other is the Jaganshi, Hiei. I also saw the son of Enma-Daioh, Koenma amongst the group."

_'Hiei? Well, it seems that I have to call in Shigure sooner than I thought. Youko Kurama, interesting… and someone with the same powers as Raizen. Plus they have Koenma by their side. Still, why do I feel worried about the whole thing?' _"You mentioned three demons with him, who was the third one? Can you identify him?"

"No my lady, but judging from his appearance, face markings, and his odd structure of his wings, I would say that he could've belonged to the higher nobles of Makai described in a few scriptures…" he stopped when he heard Mukuro's loud gasp. "Is something wrong?"

"No… good work, you can go now." She answered in a calm voice. _'Raizen! So someone did survive our attack on their family. As much as I hate to do this, I have to meet with you and Yomi sooner or later.'_

* * *

A long way from Urameshi's group lied Ranma. He was in the middle of a heavily forested area. He was also bloodied and completely unconscious. A few feet from his stood a girl. She has purple hair, red eyes, and the most obvious were the bat-like wings on her back and a pair of smaller ones at the sides of her head. She smiled widely as she walked closer to him. "Here you are. I thought I'd never find you. That blast sent you this far out."

The girl knelt beside him and carefully brushed his cheek. She smiled and licked Ranma's blood from her hands. "Oh…! You're almost the same as me." She breathed out. "Maybe this will work a little easier…" She closed her eyes and gently placed both hands on his chest. She smiled slightly when she felt that Ranma's wounds were closing up. Even though it was quite taxing for her to perform such a technique, she had a very good reason for doing this. It's not that she cared about this particular demon. Any other time, she could care less if he lived or not. It was just that this one has something that could prove to be of some use to her.

"Uhhnn… Rai… Raizen…"

"Nope, try again!"

Ranma shook his head as he tried to open his eyes. When he finally managed to do so, he stared dumbly at the purple-haired girl beaming at him. "Who… who are you?"

"Hello there! I'm Lilith!" she exclaimed in a cheerful and playful tone. "Are you okay? That was quite a fight! You were so cool! You fought one of the leaders of this realm! That's amazing!"

"Yeah… right… did you do this?" he asked as he pointed to his rapidly healing wounds.

Lilith nodded enthusiastically. "Yup, sure did! It took a lot out of me to apply this healing technique on you. Say, you haven't told me your name! What is it? Come on, tell me! I told you mine!"

"My name is Ranma. By any chance, are you a human being in disguise?" he grumbled.

Lilith tilted her head and blinked at the question. "Are you sure you're alright? You do know that we are in Makai right? I'm definitely not one of them, that's for sure… why do you ask?"

"Too bad, you're so annoying that you can pass as one of them. And if you were a human being, I'd gouged out your eyes, rip your heart out and force you to eat it, and that's just for being a nuisance." Ranma muttered in annoyance.

The purple-haired girl pouted. She watched him brush past her before she stuck her tongue out. "Meanie!"

The hybrid winced in pain and coughed several times. He was still too weak to move around. He sighed and walked towards a large tree. He sat down, closed his eyes, and leaned against the tree. He could sense that Lilith was making her way towards him. Why does that girl seem so familiar anyway? Besides that, he has other things to worry about, like how could he defeat someone like Raizen.

_Ranma…_

He snapped his head up and frantically searched around, trying to find the source of the voice. Standing beside him was a confused Lilith, who was starting to wonder if Ranma was okay in the head.

_Ranma…_

He turned his head to the side and he couldn't help but stare sadly at what he saw. Itsuki and Sensui were inside the shadow demon as Itsuki projected an image that only Ranma could see. Itsuki had a huge scar that began from his eye, and reached down all the way to his chest. He must've gotten it from Kuwabara's Jigen Tou. His arms were wrapped around Sensui's neck. The mere sight of almost made him want to kill himself. It was as he feared. His brother was dead.

_Ranma… Sensui's dead… but I'm rather glad that you survived that blast from Urameshi. Listen, as your brother wanted, he was killed by a powerful demon, and now he can finally rest. Remember what he said? He doesn't want his soul to go to Reikai, so I took him here. His soul will never go to that accursed place. Ranma… I know what you're thinking, and I won't stop you, but please take care. Makai is different from Ningenkai._

"Hmm…? Hey, what's the matter with you?" Lilith asked as she leaned in closer. She waved a hand in front of Ranma's face but there was no reaction. Well, there was one, if you can call it that. A few tears fell out of the teen's eyes as he continued his trance-like state. Lilith finally gave up, folded her wings, and just sat beside him. "What a weirdo…"

_Remember this Ranma, we'll always be watching you… our son…_

"Oniichan… Itsuki-niichan…"

* * *

**==Flashback==**

"Strange isn't it? The more you watch him, the more you get attached to him. That child is very unusual, and his potential is truly astounding." Sensui said with a small smile. He was currently sitting on a grassy field, gazing at the cheerful little boy that was happily playing by himself a few feet away from him.

Itsuki chuckled slightly as he stood beside the former Tantei. "Yes, he is one of a kind. His innocence is similar to yours Sensui." He said rather bluntly. "Even when exposed to the harsh reality about humans, he still manages to keep his cheerful and, quite frankly, light heartening attitude."

Sensui closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "But he is ruthless to his enemies, and by watching the tape, he knows that humans are not the 'good guys' most people make them out to be."

"Come on, why don't you just admit that you really enjoy his company? Not only does he lighten the mood with his attitude, he also makes you smile quite a bit, right?"

The former Reikai Tantei chuckled at that. "True. You're right about that Itsuki, and he does remind me of myself. I never thought I'd come across someone like him… he's probably the only human that I have grown to care for."

"Oniichan! Itsuki-niichan! Let's play!"

"Yes, I'll be right there Ranma-kun!" Itsuki answered cheerfully. He walked towards the boy but he stopped and looked at Sensui over his shoulder. "Well, aren't you coming?"

Sensui looked up and saw Itsuki's slight pout. He shook his head. It seemed that he was not alone in the caring department. Good, evil, no matter what people will call him in the future, Ranma can still influence them in more ways than one, whether they want to or not, and… perhaps… that child was the missing piece in his life. Sighing contentedly, he stood up and smiled at his long-time confidant. "I'm right behind you, Itsuki."

Ranma beamed at his two friends as he met them half-way. Friends… something he never really had until now. All he ever knew in his life was pain and rejection. Love? He never knew the meaning behind that word, or as to why the people around him seemed to talk about it whenever they had the chance. He didn't really know why he went with Sensui and Itsuki, but he felt something, there was something about them that was so much similar to his life. Right now, he doesn't know and he doesn't care. As long as they cared for him, and he cared for them, that was all that mattered.

"Hey, are you alright?"

**==End Flashback==**

* * *

"Hey, are you alright?"

Ranma was shaken out of his thoughts when he felt someone grab his shoulder. He instinctively grabbed the person as he drew his other arm back but stopped when he turned and looked at Lilith's frightened face. He sighed and slowly released his grip on the girl. "Don't do that."

"Couldn't you have told me that earlier?" she asked. "I mean, you could've said that you are a violent demon and I should keep my distance. Nah, violent is not right, crazy is more like it!" she exclaimed out loud. She never did notice the appearance of Ranma's youki.

"Look!" He shoved her back onto the tree and looked at her with those demonic eyes. "Lilith, was it? I've only met you for a couple of minutes, and I appreciate what you did to my injuries, but you are just plain annoying! My brother just died! I don't need a disaster-waiting-to-happen such as you tagging along! What will it take to get rid of you?!"

Ranma anger deflated and he had to take a couple of steps back when Lilith giggled and gave him a light peck on the cheek. He never saw that one coming. Lilith on the other hand, stood up, clasped her hands together and hopped a few times in delight. "Oh, I thought you'd never ask!"

Lilith turned shy all of a sudden. She had her head down, her hands were clasped together behind her while she shuffled her feet, as if trying to gain sympathy as she began her story. "You see… I'm looking for someone… she has something that I really need but I can't seem to find her. So, when I saw your fight with one of the rulers of this realm, I noticed that you had the ability to find your enemies right?"

"That was one of my human territory's powers." He answered flatly. "I can find anyone as long as I know their powers and their energy signature but it drains me to the limit so I can't use it whenever I want to. If you were watching the fight, you should've known that it was the main reason for my loss to Raizen, I'd rather not use it again."

"Please! I have to find her or else something bad is gonna happen to me! Since you're wandering around Makai, I'm sure you'll pick up her signature easily since it is a lot similar to mine! If you can find her for me then I'll leave you alone, honest!" she pleaded. _'I simply can't pass this up. I want my body so badly!'_

"…Fine, you can come along, only if you promise to leave me alone after everything is over." He doesn't want to admit it but he knew nothing about this world. This girl can be his guide until he recovered his full strength. Besides, her aura bears a semblance to his, or it could be his mind playing tricks on him.

The purple-haired girl squealed happily, she was so happy that she flew around Ranma several times, much to his dismay. "Yes! I really promise to leave you alone once we find her! Thank you!" Then she smiled but she was also grinning internally. _'Hm hm, this is going to be fun, as your powers are very similar to his. I wonder what he'll think the minute he finds out about you.'_

Ranma sighed and called out his wings, it was certainly more convenient than the Sei Kou Ki due to the fact that it doesn't drain him as much. He flapped them once, and then joined Lilith in the air. The truth has been shoved right in front of his face, he was weak in this world, but if he had his way, it will not be for long.

* * *

**AN: **The Darkstalkers part in this fic takes place right in the middle of Darkstalkers 3: Vampire Savior, that's why Lilith hasn't merged with Morrigan yet. It is rather short. I hope my next chapter comes out a lot longer. Anyway, Lilith is now in the picture, and you just know that Morrigan will be appearing sooner or later. Ranma still has a score to settle with Raizen, if he survives the different levels of Makai that is.

I'm using a mixture of the Darkstalkers history (You know how Capcom is when it comes to continuity in games =P) and Yu Yu Hakusho history. Oh, it's not the end of Nodoka and Ningenkai. He's merely going on a side trip of sorts.

**Next: Dark Realm Under Siege**

_Ranma decides to 'help' the little, whining, moaning, bitching, demoness in finding someone, but a certain castle seemed to have caught his interest… wonder if he could 'talk' to the owner of the place…_


	5. Dark Realm Under Siege

_A Ranma ½ / Yu Yu Hakusho / Sakura Wars / Inu Yasha / Darkstalkers / Devil May Cry / Multi-crossover_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ranma ½ and Yu Yu Hakusho or any other anime/game titles for that matter. Though I sometimes wish I was a class-S youkai…heh.

===

"Where are you going?"

Lilith giggled as she twirled in midair. "Oh, don't get your hopes up. I'm not gonna leave you yet. There's an old, abandoned town a few miles north, we could rest there for awhile. Be careful though, rumor has it that there are a few nasty demons hiding deep inside the town's catacombs, but we don't have to worry about it too much right? After all, you fought one of the rulers of Makai and lived to tell about it! Granted that it may not have been him directly but it's close enough, right?"

"Yeah, great… whatever you say. Let's just get there as soon as possible." Ranma sighed out. Well, they have been flying for several hours so they really could use some rest. Makai was much larger than what he had initially thought. If what Lilith said was true, then they were just in one of the many levels of this realm. According to her, they were currently in the main land within Makai called 'Matairiku', the demon land. Simply put, this was the 'safest' part of the realm.

One other thing that continued to baffle him was none other than this succubus in front of her. Her aura was almost the same as his or as Raizen would put it, her aura resembled that of the Dohma family. That little fact made him wonder about this person he was supposed to look for. Does that person really have the same aura as hers? No matter, he'll find out soon enough. "I see the town. Well? Are you coming or what?"

Lilith gave a soft, mischievous giggle, as she nodded her head in affirmative.

===

**_Dark Ascension_**

_By Insane Blight_

_Dark Realm Under Siege_

* * *

"Uhn! That feels good!" Lilith exclaimed as she swam in a lake located just outside the town. There was nothing wrong with it, unless you consider the fact that the lake water was mixed with demon blood.

Ranma sat on a dead field and watched the girl's antics with a rather indifferent look. "Hey, I was wondering, I've heard a lot about the various demons in Makai but I don't know much about a succubus. All I know is that your kind absorbs the spirit of the opposite sex and then you use it as your energy source. Care to tell me more? I am rather interested in another demon's life."

Lilith smiled. At least he finally started a conversation. "Well, technically, yes, that's what we do but from the family I come from, we vary a little differently from the rest of the succubus race. You can say that we are… special in more ways than one."

"Oh really?" he deadpanned. "May I ask what is so special about you? Besides the obvious fact of you being a flat-chested little girl? Oh! Don't tell me, you invade the dreams of old pedophiles right? Well, am I right?"

**Boom!**

Ranma didn't even react when Lilith threw an energy blast his way. Heck, he didn't even flinch when the blast was just inches away from his face when it traveled past him. He looked over his shoulder for a minute before looking back at the flying, naked, glowing succubus. "I take it that you didn't like the things that I said?" he asked in his usual oh-so-innocent tone.

"Who in their right mind would like to be called that?!" she screamed. "I am not a little girl and I do not get turned on by grumpy old men! Hmph! For your information, I'm a lot older than I look. I bet that I'm even a lot older than you!"

"I was trying to give you a compliment…" he muttered, then he smirked when he heard her say that. "Is that a fact? I know that demons have a much longer lifespan than humans so I am rather curious. I'm seventeen years old, how about you? Just how old are you?" he asked with a smile.__

Lilith crossed her arms, flew up, still not minding the fact that she was currently nude, and smiled proudly. "Ha, I'm roughly around three hundred years old! Suck on that, BOY!" she mocked but she blinked when Ranma just rolled on the floor and laughed out loud. "Hey! What are you laughing at?!"

Tears were forming around his eyes when he said, "Bwahahahaha! I'm sorry… heheh, it's just that… I just find it funny that… hehehahah… you have lived for over three hundred years and you still haven't grown past puberty? It… it's just… oh, I don't know… bwahahahahaha!"

The succubus blushed a bit as she sank back into the lake. "Sh-shut up! This is not my real body! It's just that this was the form I wanted to be at the time, the time when he decided to give me a body." she finished in a whisper.

"Wait a sec, 'given' to you?" Ranma asked, slightly confused at what she said. To tell the truth, he was kind of surprised that he was enjoying this conversation with her. Sure, she was childish at times but now that he thought about it, so was he. The fact that she was a demon and not a human being was also a good thing, or else he would've killed her already.

"It's nothing important." _'To you anyway.' s_he thought with a sigh. "Anyway, I told you that my family is different from the rest of the succubus race. No, we are not flat-chested little girls so stop smiling! Geez, what a psycho, first he snubs me now he's become 'friendly' all of a sudden." she mumbled as she took a few glances at him. "AHEM! As I was saying, we create a special liquid in our bodies when we are either physically or mentally stimulated…"

"By old men?"

Lilith face faulted. She twitched a bit as she gave Ranma a cold glare. "Will you stop it?! It's getting rather old. Sheesh, now where was I… oh yes, the liquid… well, this liquid basically is what keeps us going. However, that's not the only way for us to survive. Like the rest, we can also try the usual method, which is to peer into the dreams of others. It doesn't matter if it is a demon or a human, we can absorb their energies easily." she finished with a slight moan.

"So in other words, you prolong your lives by getting turned on or by stealing people's dreams."__

"Er, that's a simple way of putting it. Anyhow, that's all there is to know…" she answered while she licked her fingers. _'His blood… I just have to see this myself.' _"That's basically how we live."

Ranma scratched his head. "Isn't that a lot of trouble for getting the one you want? I mean, isn't there, hmm, an easier way to get it?"

The purple-haired girl absently placed a finger on her lips. "Hmm… well, there is another way that we can use. A way that doesn't involve any sort of method, we just, oh to be blunt, suck our victim's energies without any of the hassle I said earlier. A more, direct approach if you would." She had a playful glint in her eye as she gazed at the teen. "I could show it to you, but I don't think that you'll like it."

"Come on, show me. I'd really love to see what you're talking about."

"Sigh, if you say so…" Lilith smiled mischievously. Oh well, he asked for it.

The succubus flew out of the lake, went over to Ranma's spot, and placed her hands on his cheeks. Before Ranma could even react, the succubus forcefully pulled him in for a kiss. Soon after, she began to force her tongue inside his mouth, to which she found no resistance from him whatsoever, much to her surprise. What happened next was what she expected, maybe even more. Her powers immediately began to return to her faster than ever. She was right about him. Ranma's power was almost the same as the person who gave her this body, thus making her recovery a lot faster.__

Just then, she was caught by surprise when Ranma suddenly pushed her back. She giggled and licked her lips in amusement but then she noticed that he was having a hard time breathing. He was also wide-eyed as he coughed violently. That wasn't supposed to happen. He should only feel drained, nothing more. Fortunately, she has already seen this kind of reaction once, but that was with a… human. She bit her lip as she hesitantly kneeled beside him. "Um, by any chance, do you have human blood in you?"

"It… cough… took you this long to… figure it out? And I thought I already mentioned it to you?!" he replied with a murderous glare.

Lilith looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm… oh yeah, so you did… er, sorry, I kinda forgot." she said sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head.

"Gah! What… what did you do to me? I feel like I've been poisoned and… and…" he didn't want to finish it, but Lilith nodded in understanding when she saw the slight blush that creased his face.

The succubus chuckled nervously. "I guess your human side can still be affected by one of our abilities. Don't worry. The effect should wear off in a few minutes… I think…" she assured him, or at least tried to.

Ranma seethed. "You think? What does that mean?!"

Lilith smiled wanly. "Well, either that or you die. You know, either your demon blood counteracts it or you simply die, kick the bucket and all that stuff. I never really tried it with a hybrid so I don't know what will happen to you."

"Couldn't you have told me about this first before you kissed me?"

Lilith shrugged. "You never asked."

* * *

True enough, after ten or so minutes, the effect indeed wore off. Ranma was sprawled on the floor, breathing heavily, and a red tint was still on his cheeks. He could tell that his powers were almost nil, which of course made him twitch a little. He looked to his side and saw that Lilith, who was now dressed, if you can call it a dress, was still sitting beside him with a nervous smile on her face. "Well, isn't this great? Now my powers are back to when you originally found me." he grumbled.

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" she frantically apologized. "At least now we know that your body has the ability to withstand a kiss from my kind." She cringed when Ranma's eyes narrowed. "Sorry!"

Ranma sighed and shook his head. "Forget it. I didn't die from it anyway. Can you at least give me a little bit of your powers like the time you healed me?" he asked hopefully.

Lilith bit her lip and shook her head no. "Um, it doesn't work that way. What I did just now, I absorbed your powers into myself, but the one I transferred onto you that time was not energy per se, it was, um, it was…"

"It was what? Come on, spill it, I don't have all day."

"A soul…" she finished. Seeing Ranma's raised eyebrow, she sighed and decided to explain a little. "Where do I start? Um, there are a few demon families who can absorb souls, or spirits or whatever you prefer to call them. They absorb them directly and use it as energy, the succubus and the incubus race are the primary examples of this. Well, I sensed that you probably came from a family that simply thrives on souls so I took a chance and transferred one to you. As I thought, you instinctively converted it to energy."

Ranma chuckled a little. "You mean to tell me that I just assimilated a soul without even knowing about it?"

"Yup."

The hybrid smiled. "Oho! This is great, next thing you're gonna tell me is that the soul you gave me was from a human being…" his smile widened when Lilith nodded her head. "This is wonderful! No wonder it felt so familiar, the soul was human! I just have to learn how to do that! Lilith, can you teach me how to siphon a human soul? Can you? Can you?"

Lilith felt very uneasy when she stared right into his eyes. _'Oh boy, if that hate isn't directed towards humans, then I will gladly end my search for my body.' _"It's not that easy you know, but I guess I can teach you when you've recovered enough." She sweatdropped when Ranma began chuckling evilly to himself. Weird and creepy, that was all she could say about him.__

A few hours had passed, Lilith eventually dosed off under a tree while Ranma sat on one of the tree's branches and was seemingly in deep thought. _'Raizen, Mukuro, and Yomi, the three rulers of Makai. Do they really possess that much power? Are they unbeatable? Raizen just toyed with me, he treated me as if I was nothing. Worst part was that he wasn't even in his body. Grr, no, I'll get stronger, I will bring him down to his knees and make him beg for his life!'_

He was brought out of it when something fell into his lap. It was an apple, or it looked like an apple. Glancing around, he noticed that it came from the tree. He studied the fruit in his hand before shrugging to himself. _'I am a little hungry. Eh, what's the worse that could happen?'_ With that, he took a bite out of it.

"AAAHHHHH!! That fruit!!! Don't eat it!!!"

Ranma wasn't listening though. He casually took another bite out of it before looking down and addressing the frantic succubus. "Huh? What about this fruit? You should try some, it's really good."

Lilith gaped at him, highly puzzled as to why it didn't seem to affect the teen. "Are you alright…? You don't feel sick, do you? You don't feel like throwing up your insides? You don't feel like something is eating you alive? You really don't feel like something is wrong with you?"

"…Nope… should I?"

"Of course you should dimwit! That's a Makai evil fruit! It is poisonous to everyone, including demons! So why are you not dropping dead?!" Lilith screamed until her face was flushed.

Ranma looked at her oddly, then shrugged his shoulders and continued eating.

* * *

It was now night at the town where the two were staying at. Ranma had fallen asleep on a familiar tree branch while Lilith said that she'd go to sleep in one of the abandoned houses, obviously still stunned by the fact that Ranma was immune to the poison of the Makai evil fruit. He actually smiled and ate around ten to twenty more when she told him that demons immediately die when they take a bite out of it.

Lilith was not asleep though. Thanks to Ranma, she actually had more than enough energy to stay awake for almost a week if she wanted to. She was lying on the roof of an abandoned house with an impatient look, as if she was tired of waiting for someone or something. She finally gave off a sigh of relief when she heard a buzzing sound behind her. "You're late. I wonder what Q-bee does to drones that are late." She smirked upon hearing a frantic buzz in response.

"Relax, I was just kidding, but do not let it happen again." Lilith growled the last part out. She sat up and looked over her shoulder, where a humanoid bee was hovering a few feet above her. "I know that he wants a report but I haven't done much yesterday. Well, I did manage to trick someone from the cat-women race to go to his dimension, but that's not important." She motioned for the bee to come closer. "I found someone, a hybrid, one that has powers similar to his. Surprising, huh? Tell him that I'll bring the hybrid when I get the chance."

The bee nodded and immediately flew away, but not before casting a glance at the sleeping hybrid. Lilith watched the humanoid bee's departure before she smirked to herself. She stretched her arms and wings as she said, "Yup, I'll bring him to you once he locates my 'sister'." she whispered as she curled up and went to sleep.

Back at the large tree, Ranma turned a couple of times in his sleep. Quite a feat considering that the tree branch was a little smaller than him. "First a succubus, then a humanoid bee… I wonder what I'll see next." he muttered as he went back to sleep.

* * *

Poke.

"Mnnn, go away Oniichan, I don't wanna train today."

Poke. Poke.

"I said go away!"

**Thwack!**

Ranma's eyes snapped open when he heard a shrill scream. He sat up from the branch and looked to his side, where a certain, flying succubus was busy rubbing the newly formed lump on her head. "What do you want Lilith? Can't you see I'm trying to sleep here?"

Lilith pouted. "Owie!" she exclaimed as she glared at the hybrid, but the cute pout on her face ruined the whole thing. "Ohhh, a simple sorry would've been nice. Come on, get up. We're demons, and from what I can tell, you are a night creature just like me so rise and shine! Please? I have something I need to show you."

"Give it a rest. Unlike me, you haven't been drained of your energy." He grumbled as he stretched his wings and used them to cover his body. "Go bother somebody else or go get yourself stimulated or something, just leave me alone. I want to sleep, it's not everyday you get the life drained out of you."

"Oh, let it go, will you? Oh, I thought you were at least a gentleman around women, but I guess demons like you really have no time for manners. Oh dear, what is Makai coming to?" Lilith sighed dramatically.

The hybrid literally froze. He turned around and looked into Lilith's face with an impassive look. "Oh that? Sure! I'm a gentleman to women, not to some granny in the guise of a little girl."

"Why you…!"

Ranma smiled when Lilith's wings stretched to impossible angles before morphing into several spikes. _'So that's how it's done. You will it with a huge amount of youki. Heh, it could be useful… if I had my powers.' _He finished the thought with a frown. He was snapped out of it when Lilith attacked him with speed that was hauntingly similar to his. It wasn't long until he received several cuts and slashes on his body, mostly on his arms. "Okay! I'm sorry for making fun of you. I'll try not to do it again."

Lilith's wings extended forward, hitting Ranma dead-on. "Not good enough!"

"Alright, I'll never make fun of you again! Period!" he avowed as he flew down. "You're not a little girl and you're not a granny either, okay? Are you happy?" Lilith's youki flared to life, which made him cringe involuntarily. With his current condition, who could blame him? "Ah, um, you're beautiful, cute, exotic, and um… eccentric? Er, in a good way of course."

Lilith's red aura dissipated and a huge smile quickly replaced the scowl she had earlier. "There, see? You can say the sweetest things if you want to." she said in a sweet voice.

Scary, especially the mood changes, that was all he could think of her. Ranma shook his head. Women, he'll never understand them. Correction: demonic little girls, he'll never understand them, women were a close second. He winced when his wounds made themselves known, though what happened next left him with quite a dumbfounded look. Lilith knelt beside him, grabbed one of his arms with unexpected gentleness, and one by one, she began to lick the wounds that she herself made.

"What do you think you're doing?" No response. "Uh, can you stop for a moment?" Once again, there was no response. A subtle blush eventually appeared on Ranma's face as Lilith continued to 'soothe his wounds'. Ranma gritted his teeth. Has she forgotten already? Her saliva has a very powerful lustful effect! Damn succubus. "Uh, um, what was it that you wanted to show me?"

Lilith licked the wounds one last time. "Umm, that was delicious. Huh? Oh, that's right. I remember seeing a number of wandering spirits around this place when we flew down, we can use them to train you in absorbing energies. You'll also recover some of your strength in the process so you don't have to whine about me draining you anymore."

"…And you didn't tell me about this earlier because…?"

"Tee-hee, I forgot."

Ranma just buried his face in his hand.

A sheepish Lilith and an irritated Ranma flew around the abandoned town in search for a few spirits to feast at. The hybrid's patience was really getting tested though, for it has been almost an hour and they have yet to find one single spirit. Luckily, the succubus flew down and landed near the town cemetery moments later. Ranma shrugged and followed her down. There was no point in staying in the air anyway.

"Look! I think I see a couple of them over there!"

Ranma's eyes narrowed as he tried to probe it, then sweated when he finished. "Uh, I don't think it's a spirit…"

Lilith didn't quite hear him because she already moved towards it. When she got close enough, she was pushed down to the ground when a loud roar greeted her instead. She rubbed her bottom, then looked up and gasped audibly. In front of her was a dog, a very big dog. It has two heads, razor sharp teeth that will make quick work out of anyone, and its body was the size of a two-storey house. _'Oh boy…'_

"Uh, nice pet you got there, Lilith." _'Oookay… a succubus, a bee, and a Cerberus-type dog, wonder what's next on the list. I hope it's a cat!'_

"N-N-Nice doggie… g-good doggie… pretty doggie…" Lilith said sweetly as she tried to appease the growling and obviously hungry creature in front of her.

Ranma took one step back as he gazed at the two-headed behemoth. If Lilith hadn't sucked his energy, he would've eagerly fought this creature by now. Sadly, such was not the case. He wasn't dumb. He knew when the odds were stacked against him. "I don't know about you, but I think now is a good time to run."

* * *

Back in Ningenkai, Urameshi Yusuke sat at a familiar spot on the school roof, even though it was past midnight. It has only been a day since their return from Makai so he still had his long hair and the various markings on his chest, arms, and face. His mother freaked when he came home looking like that but she quickly got over it with the help of a couple of drinks. Family, Koenma said that he probably was related to the bastard who controlled his body. Like hell. He'll never accept that, ever.

Before going back into the portal, they found Sensui's body a few miles from where they were at. He couldn't help but grit his teeth when he saw the ex-tantei's state. If his reiki powers did this much damage to Sensui, then what did a blast of youki could have possibly done to Ranma? He really wanted to stay in Makai to find that bastard and make him pay for using him but Koenma reminded him that the Makai door will close in a few weeks time and he may very well be trapped inside that realm.

The reaction from the group was as he expected. Kuwabara became adamant to leave the place when he heard about this, Hiei and Kurama had an indifferent look. Guess they could care less if they stayed in Makai or not, though there was a small doubt in Kurama's eyes, perhaps because he was thinking of his human mother. As for him, well, he was more than willing to go and find that demon but something stopped him. There was something, a feeling that he could not quite understand. In any case, that was what made him decide to go back to Ningenkai.

Yusuke gave off a light chuckle when he remembered the trouble Puu caused in Mushiyori City. Well, he was too big to hide so it couldn't be helped. Fortunately, Genkai suggested that Puu should stay with her at her temple. It was far enough and it was a little secluded so Puu will certainly fit right in.

"You know, thinking too much sometimes drives a person crazy."

Yusuke smiled. He looked up to the sky, sighed, and stood up. "And sneaking up on people is not a very nice thing to do, Kurama."

Kurama chuckled as he stepped out into the open, a few feet behind Yusuke. "Ha ha, I guess so."

The two leaned on the roof railing, as they looked down at the empty school yard below. Yusuke glanced at Kurama a few times. He never really thought that he would see a cold and ruthless side of the person beside him. Though he can't blame him, that so-called mother got on his nerves too. Hell, just thinking about her really tempted him to blast something, anything, with his reiki. Nodoka Saotome, or as the name she now preferred, Nodoka Kirishima, well, she'd be a cinch to win the bitch of the year award, that's for sure.

He guessed that the woman was the reason for Kurama's behavior. Frankly, he himself couldn't fathom growing up with someone like her. Now that he had time to think about it, he really can't blame Ranma for wanting to kill his own mother. If he was in his position, maybe he'd also do the same thing. He shook his head. Dammit, that was his demon side talking! "Do you think he's still alive?"

"I don't see him as someone who would die so easily." Kurama answered plainly. "The will of a person sometimes makes us do impossible things…" he trailed off.

"You mean his hatred for his mother…"

Kurama nodded sullenly, his fists clenching and unclenching. He himself once thought of humans as mere tools to be used, but his human mother changed all that. He simply can't understand Ranma's mother and her actions against her own child. At least demons showed some kind of sympathy for their family, but Nodoka was different, different from everyone. It was as if there was something else, something that goes beyond her present hatred towards her son. Regardless, he was certain that Ranma will be back in Ningenkai to settle it with her once and for all.

Yusuke placed a hand on Kurama's shoulder, which incited a small jerk from the redhead. "C'mon, let's go see Genkai and the rest."

The redhead smiled slightly. "Okay, but Keiko asked me to give you a haircut first."

Yusuke groaned. _'So that's why he's here!'_

* * *

__

_'Bored. I am sooooooo bored.' _A mantra that eventually became a routine in the life of the succubus known as Morrigan Aensland. She was currently sitting on the edge of a tall building in Tokyo, gazing at the beauty of the full moon. She doesn't know why but she felt that something big was going to happen in Ningenkai. Perhaps it may even be something that she can enjoy. Hmph, the people of Reikai were nothing but fools. Did they really think that by sealing a mere gate, high-level demons such as her could not enter this human world anymore? Ha! If so, then they're even bigger fools than she first thought.

She frowned and snapped her head to the side when she felt a familiar presence headed her way. Demitri Maximov. She rolled her eyes. Doesn't that guy ever give up? She knew of a few obsessed-types but this was downright ridiculous. Berial, arguably the most powerful demon in Makai, passed away, but instead of living in peace, he had the nerve to challenge her. That's why she hated being the successor to the throne of the Aensland family. Even though there were others who took over for the three original rulers, most demons still consider her family as the most powerful. Flattering, yes, but annoying nonetheless.

Morrigan pursed her lips. Well, it wasn't like she was going to fight him any time soon. Besides, in her opinion, he was still not in her league. Does he really think that he can defeat her with such petty tricks that he learned from his banishment to Ningenkai? Oh please, she was born an S-class, and Demitri was a mere upper A-class at best. Still, it made her wonder, was she at her limit already? She doesn't seem to be gaining any more power no matter how hard she tried. It was as if something was preventing her from doing so. Her thoughts came back to Berial, well, he was the only one she knew that could do such a thing and it was just like him if he really did do something like that to her.

The succubus winced. She gently placed a hand on her face, as she hunched slightly. No, please, not the voice again. Ever since Berial died, she was plagued by this faint yet irksome voice that rang inside her head every now and then. The worst part of it was that during the past few months, it has unfortunately gotten stronger. She doesn't know whether to like it or hate it, she preferred the latter of course but she found out that she couldn't do that. For some reason, she can't find it in her heart to hate the voice. She doesn't know why but it felt like, well, to put it simply, a lost part of her. She had a few thoughts about it before but she never really paid much attention to it at the time.

Ah, forget it. Mr. I'm-lusting-for-you was closing in on her. She stood up and stretched her arms and wings. Taking one last look at the full moon, she flapped her wings and flew to the east, away from a certain vampire. "It's so boring. Hmm… come to think of it, I haven't gone back to Makai in quite awhile. Perhaps I'll pay my family a little visit. Hmn, maybe I can find some fun there too."

* * *

"Wai! This is so much fun! He's sooo cute like this!"

"Oh, come on." _'That's cute?'_

Ranma and Lilith left the town and continued to travel north. Oh, the dog? Lilith 'tamed' it so that it will now follow her every word, a simple enticement spell did the trick. There was really nothing to it. Her experience with such things shouldn't be underestimated, Ranma made a quick mental note of that. Speaking of the succubus, she was currently riding the large demon dog while Ranma walked alongside them. Well, the hybrid and the dog never got along. Perhaps it was Lilith's doing, or it could be that the dog simply didn't like him. If it was the latter, he guessed it was due to his despicable human blood.

Oh well, it was truly a shame. He really wanted to play with the dog, but hey, at least he can still show the beast a neat twist in the popular trick, 'playing dead'. Cats, now there's a thought. He was quite fond of cats ever since he was a child. Oh, how he missed his furry little friends from the pit. He really liked how they played with his skin, specifically his face. He cheered up when he remembered what Lilith said. There was a race of cat-people in Makai. He hoped to meet them someday, they would really be interesting playmates. Unfortunately, he was still stuck with granny for the time being.

"Where are we headed again?"

Lilith tapped her lips. "Hmm? Oh, my family's castle lies to the north… at least I think its north, I have never been there much myself." She sweated a bit when Ranma's face darkened. "Er, um, I know that you're getting impatient but please bear with me for a few more days. I truly promise to leave you alone once you find her."

Ranma sighed heavily. "Fine, do whatever you wish, but if your succubus friends get any bright ideas…"

"I don't care about them. You can simply drain the life out of them for all I care. You are getting better at draining souls, aren't you? I mean, you did absorb almost every wandering soul in that town graveyard…" she trailed off. Who knew the hybrid was capable of consuming multiple souls at once? She should've seen it coming though, her 'master' was related to him after all.

"It's a bit frustrating, their souls were weak, not enough to restore a quarter of my powers. Besides, the method you taught me takes too long, it's pretty much useless in a fight. Although I have been thinking, there are other ways to absorb souls like…"

Lilith blinked, turning her head to the side. "Like…?"

Ranma smiled sweetly, and then he suddenly drove his hand inside the two-headed creature, scaring Lilith out of her wits. His sweet smile widened when his entire body was promptly splashed with demonic blood. He pulled his arm out a few seconds later, and he watched in amusement when the beast simply dropped dead. Then he gazed at his hand, where the beast's spirit shimmered in his grasp. "Heheheh… like this!" he shouted. He swiftly crushed the spirit in his hand to which he, in turn, automatically absorbed the remnants of energy into his body. "It's a lot easier this way, don't you think?"

"............Er, yeah, you can also do that............" Lilith muttered angrily. _'Stupid barbaric, psychotic youkai…'_

* * *

The two continue to head north, but an unexpected, freaky 'blood storm' forced them to take shelter under a giant tree. Basically, the rain was the same color as blood, and it was deadly to demons. Ranma found that out the hard way. He thought it was just like the Makai evil fruit so he shrugged at Lilith's warnings, but he ran like hell when his wings suddenly caught on fire. The puzzling part was that it only affected demons and nothing more.

Lilith curled up on one side of the tree while Ranma sat on the opposite side. Oh, when will she find her? For every day that has gone by, her desire to find her grew. It wasn't easy resisting this urge, this strong desire to be one with her body. The one that gave her this body promised that he would help her find her other half if she worked for him and his plans, but it was simply taking way too long. Now this hybrid came into the picture, and he has the power to find just about anyone in this realm if he was at full strength. She had to admit, he's alright once you get used to him, and his power can restore her quite easily to boot. All in all, things were looking good for her.

She was shaken out of it when she heard someone singing. She got up and couldn't help but blink when the one singing was none other than Mr. Weird and Creepy. She peeked a little and to say that she wasn't disturbed at what she saw would be the friggin understatement of the year. She immediately clutched her sides tightly so as not to throw up right then and there. _'What is with him?'_

_You lie…_

_Suddenly before me_

_Your tears, they mean nothing to me_

_No wind, all another window_

_The love you never gave, I give to you_

_Really don't deserve it…_

_But now, there's nothing you can do_

_So sleep, in your only membrane_

_Hug me, my dearest mother…_

_Here's a lullaby to close your eyes_

_It was always you that I despised_

_I don't feel enough for you to cry_

_Here's a lullaby to close your eyes_

_…Goodbye_

There was nothing wrong with singing a gentle, albeit weird tune such as that, it's just that the tears and the eerie smile on Ranma's face as he sang it was the one that disturbed her. Not to mention the way he peeled off a portion of his skin was too much to watch even for her, the so-called 'bad' side of her original self.

She went back to her spot and sat down with a sigh. Gazing intently at the ground before her, Lilith pondered on what she just saw. Mr. Creepy just got creepier. Who was he referring to in that song anyway? Her curiosity was piqued because he never really talked about himself. Either he'd snub her inquiry or he'd simply say something to piss her off.

Creepiness aside, the two of them do share some similarities. The two of them have child-like personalities, though that personality of hers was a mask to fool others, it was part of her nonetheless. Ranma was a little different from her though. His childish innocence was not an act, personal experience told her that much. There were quite a number of times where she thought of him as a little boy trapped inside a man's body. Heheh, scary… now that she thought about it, what would a psychotic child do if he had S-class type powers? Go on a rampage? Kill everyone in sight? Er, get rid of a succubus that he found so annoying? Scary thought indeed.

As much as she hated to admit it, her powers pale in comparison to Ranma's or her other half. Hmph, she doesn't even care what class she belonged to for she knew that it was not her true power, not at the moment anyway. Still, she was confident that she could go toe to toe with a lower A-class demon because of her, well, special techniques, techniques that her other half did not know about. She guessed that Ranma already knew that because he became a little more wary towards her as of late.

Speaking of which, the hybrid just walked past her. He had an eerie smile on his somewhat blank look as he walked into the dark forest in front of her. "Now where is he going?" she whispered. The rain had stopped so she sighed, got up, and chased after her reluctant partner. "Ranma, wait up! Mou… hey, wait for me!"

* * *

Raizen sat alone at the very top chamber of his tower. He snarled and gritted his teeth when his stomach growled once more. The urge was acting up again. He hunched over, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Yes, he simply cannot hold on much longer. There was no denying it, his time was near. He knew it, Yomi and Mukuro knew it. He chuckled a bit, he never would've thought that he will die by starvation, but this was the path he chose.

It was the least of his concerns at the moment. A lot of unexplained things were happening around the realm. New powerful creatures were popping up out of the woodwork, blood rains were a lot more frequent in the past few weeks, the different levels of Makai were experiencing quite a large number of tremors, and the most recent was the mysterious disappearance of several powerful demon families. No, not just the families, but their castles, towers, palace, all of it disappeared along with them. He wouldn't have cared about that last one if the first castle to vanish wasn't from that accursed family.

Raizen snarled as he punched right through a wall, anger was evident on his face. Most of his friends and comrades died when that family decided to feast on weak demonic souls hundreds of years ago. As a low-level demon, he didn't have the strength to fight them so he fled, he escaped like a coward. He fled to Ningenkai, but the human world at the time was full of people with strong reiki, not to mention most of them hated demons with a passion. Wounded and injured from his fight with that accursed family, it wasn't long until they sensed him, forcing him to escape from the human world as well.

A small smile crept on the wargod's face. That was the time he met her. She tended to his wounds even though she knew that he was a youkai. Their encounter was interesting to say the least. He was stubborn while she was defiant. Raizen chuckled at that, he came to her house with the intent of killing her but instead the two of them shared a rather intimate evening together. It was the event that changed his life forever.

Vowing to never eat another human, he focused on getting stronger to keep his mind off the urge. Several years have gone by, he has gained a lot of fame, and a lot of followers as he continued to stick to his vow. He became so strong that when the original rulers of Makai died one by one, he was the first to be requested to take over one of the three positions, and he was more than willing to accept.

With the power he held, he quickly ordered the extermination of the Dohma family. Yomi and Mukuro were more than happy to help him out, as well as most of the demons in the realm. Unfortunately, a few of them had escaped and several years later, one of them showed up in Makai. How ironic, a hybrid for a descendant of the Dohma family, and it mirrored his own situation.

"Lord Raizen…?"

Raizen looked up and stared coolly at the bald-headed monk. "What is it, Hokushin?"

"Uh, yes, um, my lord, we are ready to go to Ningenkai."

The wargod closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "Fine, I want you to go to Ningenkai and get my descendant to come here. The situation has changed. I want him here in Makai as soon as possible. Now go."

Hokushin nodded and began to take his leave. He stopped however, when Raizen practically roared in rage. He turned around and his eyes widened when Raizen's aura flared to life. "My lord, what's the matter?"

"Hmph… I knew it… when there's one, there's bound to be another. Dohma family, the original cause of misfortune and turmoil in Makai, a pest that needs to be crushed once and for all." he said as he stood up and walked out of his chambers, much to the shock of his followers.

* * *

Yomi smiled as he entered one of the chambers of his palace, a chamber made for a special person. Yes, a demon was locked up in this room, one of those responsible for his suffering, his eternal darkness, and ironically, his rise to power. He really didn't need to see the demon's suffering, hearing his cries and screams of pain and agony was enough. What lied in front of him was a wasp-like creature, though he didn't look like it at the moment. His arms were chained to the wall, his limbs dismembered, and the best part was that they were keeping him alive in order for him to feel more pain.

The wasp creature moved his head slightly. "P-Please… kill… m-me… h-have m-m-mercy…"

"Hmph, no, I won't let you die so easily. Another person still needs to see your miserable face." Yomi said, anger creeping into his voice. He walked closer and slapped the demon several times. "Tell me again, who ordered you to kill me and my group? Tell me again! Who ordered you to assassinate me?!"

"Y-Youko… K-Kura… ma…"

Yomi smiled and slapped the demon one more time. He then began to chuckle to himself, the chuckle soon turned into a full-blown laughter. "Ha ha ha ha ha!!! It was none other than my old friend! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" he repeated over and over again. "My dear friend, I can't wait to see how much you've changed over the years! Hahahaha!"

He snapped out of it when he sensed Raizen's sudden flare of energy. "Oh? He's headed for Mukuro's domain. Heh, it looks like the three of us need to talk." he chuckled. He looked at the wasp-like creature one more time, then turned around and walked away, a serious look marring his features.

* * *

Mukuro looked at the man kneeling in front of her with interest. The man has slicked long hair that was tied up in a ponytail. He was wearing a simple light-blue, worn-out robe. He was pierced all over his body, and in his right hand was a special curved weapon, a razor-sharp hoop if you will. "Well, well, it has been awhile Shigure. I assume that you know the reason as to why I summoned you back here?"

Shigure chuckled slightly as he looked up with a smirk and stared Mukuro in the eye. "Heh, it's quite obvious Mukuro since there is only one reason for you to be calling me back so soon from your army frontline."

"Yes, yes, how silly of me."

"Hiei, hmm, now that name brings back a lot of memories." Shigure pondered aloud. He stood up and gave Mukuro a wide grin. "I would assume that you want me to go to Ningenkai and test him?"

Mukuro chuckled. "That is not necessary Shigure. He'll come to us…" she answered cryptically. She watched as Shigure nodded and took his leave, leaving her and one of her generals in the room. The general was a large, muscled man wearing a stone mask and large armor. Mukuro motioned for him to come closer. "Kiri…"

"Yes, my lady?"

"Did the Jaganshi receive my invitation as planned?"

Kiri nodded. "Yes, but our messenger has unfortunately been killed."

"I see… that is all, you may go now."

Mukuro waited for her general to go out the door before letting off a soft chuckle. "Hm hm, perhaps the messenger did something to annoy him." she mused. She suddenly snapped her head up when she felt Raizen's burst of power. "He's… moving. If that's the case then it is as I suspected, that scourge lives once more and if my guess is right, he still hasn't dropped his plans." she mumbled angrily. She tore off her bandages and seals, frowned, and then went out the room with a determined look.

* * *

A tall figure sat on the throne room of a fairly large castle. He has light-blue, liquid-like skin and a set of familiar metallic bat-like wings on his back. He was one of the original rulers of Makai, the newly resurrected Jedah Dohma. He slumped slightly on his throne, a small frown evident on his face. The current rulers should've noticed that last power surge by now. It was unavoidable, the power was necessary for the 'other' gate to fully open. Jedah smiled at that, Reikai was still clueless to its existence even after all these years. Enma Daioh, a fool through and through.

Truly ironic, they deemed him as a scourge, a plague, a bloodthirsty monster that struck fear into the hearts of every demon he came across, yet it was he who always thought about the future of Makai. He was the only one among the original rulers who really cared for the well-being of the realm. Why can they not understand that? All the things he did, he did it for Makai. Unlike Galnan Voshtal and Berial Aensland, there was no room for selfishness in his heart, not now, not ever.

His kind were born soul stealers, they feed off its energy in order to prolong their lives. A rare kind indeed, they were not like most demons that feast on humans in order to live. His kind… that was the only thing he regretted. Shortly after he was resurrected, he learned that his family suffered the repercussions of his failure. He did not want that to happen to them because they really had no knowledge of his plans whatsoever. To put it simply, they were innocent and did not deserve to be slaughtered like dogs. But there was nothing he could do about it now. As much as he hated to admit it, there was no way to undo the past.

"Lord Jedah…"

Jedah looked up and stared coolly at the humanoid bee hovering in front of him. "Is something the matter, Q-bee?"

Q-bee leaned in closer and whispered a few words to his ear.

_'I still have family?' _"I… see… that is certainly interesting. However, it is of no importance at this time. Q-bee, assemble your army. There has been a slight change in plans. My dimensional realm still needs more energy for it to stabilize so…" Jedah smiled a bit, a sick and twisted smile to be precise. "We are going to hunt at daybreak."

Q-bee smiled as well, knowing full well what he meant by those words. Her tribe will get to have another feast if all goes well. She bowed her head and flew away, her smile not leaving her face. Makai has become nothing more than a mere playground to them, a playground full of souls to eat.

* * *

"Ranma, where are you?" The succubus shouted. For someone who doesn't even have a quarter of his powers, he sure could run fast. She lost him after only a couple of minutes, fast indeed. Glancing around, she noticed something to her side. She walked towards it, and after going through a few bushes and trees, she finally saw the hybrid. He was standing in front of a large and well-built castle. She silently walked towards him, admiring the castle as she did so.

Ranma took a second to look at Lilith. "You look like hell."

Lilith ignored the quip and continued to stare at the castle in awe. "Now, this is a castle. The owner must really be rich! He's a higher noble for sure!"

"Yeah, quite a nice castle he chose this time around." A voice behind them said off-handedly.

The two turned around and saw a tall man with white hair. He was wearing a black vest with empty gun holsters, red jaded pants, a pair of black boots, and a long dark-red trenchcoat. A sword that was producing noticeable electric arcs was strapped to his back. A hybrid, that much they could tell, but they do not know what kind of demon the man originated from. Lilith became very uneasy, she had good reason to. Although she was back at full strength, she didn't even sense him when he snuck up on them.

Ranma on the other hand, just looked at the man with innocent curiosity. _'Oh wow, someone like me! He certainly looks strong, wonder how he'd fare in a fight.'_ "Who are you?"

"Me?" The man asked, amused. He chuckled as he casually placed his hands at the back of his head. A second later, he grabbed the set of handguns that popped out of his sleeves, and then he pointed it to Ranma and Lilith's heads before they could even react. The man gave the two a huge smirk as his guns made a whirring sound as it began to gather energy. "I'm just every demon's worst nightmare."

* * *

****

**AN:** Mwahahaha! I'm having a blast writing this. Gee, wonder who that smirking man was. Anyway, DMC takes place when he decides to take a trip 'all the way to hell'. Oh, don't worry, I'm using his DMC1 character. (The badass one) Oh, Ranma's 'lullaby' was from a song in Silent Hill 4: The Room called Room of Angel, sung by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. Well, back to work on the other fics… Ja!

**Next: Dance Macabre**

_"I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it!"_


	6. Dance Macabre

_A Ranma ½ / Yu Yu Hakusho / Sakura Wars / Inu Yasha / Darkstalkers / Devil May Cry / Multi-crossover_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ranma ½ and Yu Yu Hakusho or any other anime/game titles for that matter. Though I sometimes wish I was a class-S youkai…heh.

------

Lilith snarled and immediately encased her hands with youki. Oh, how she hated it when she guessed these things right. Ranma reacted a little differently though, he actually squealed in delight as he summoned his Sei Kou Ki, no matter how weak it was at the moment. He smiled and hovered in the air as he asked, "Hey Mister, you look really strong! Can I know you're name? Will you fight with me?"

The man raised a puzzled eyebrow at Ranma's innocent behavior before shrugging his shoulders at the boy's curious inquiry, "The name's Dante," he paused before he aimed the gun back to the teen, "And yes, I'll fight you and the rest of your friends, that's why I'm here kid."

Lilith just stared at the two incredulously. Ranma should know that he would be trampled the minute he fights this man! So why was he so eager to fight this man… oh yeah… he wasn't stable mentally to begin with. _'Uh, guess I also forgot about that little fact. Ugh, why am I so forgetful all of a sudden?'_

"Eheh, I don't know what you mean by 'friends'," he took a second to look at Lilith, who just shrugged her shoulders in bewilderment, "But I'm glad that I'll be getting to face you," Ranma said with a smile before swooping down while summoning several energy orbs around him. Lilith also took to the air and seemed to be concentrating on an attack of her own.

Dante bowed his head, lowered his arms and smirked knowingly as he awaited their descent.

**Bang! Bang!**

------

**_Dark Ascension_**

_By Insane Blight_

**Dance Macabre**

* * *

Dante frowned as he looked up at the two airborne demons. Those energy orbs swirling around the kid were not just for show after all. He quickly aimed for the two again and proceeded to bombard Ranma and Lilith with devil bullets, which they frantically tried to dodge. Jumping up high, Dante stretched his arms to his sides and began to spin around as he let loose another seemingly endless amount of bullets all over the place.

"Yipe! Ow! Hey, watch where you're going Ranma!"

"You try moving around these bullets!"

"Argh! Enough of this! Shining Blade!!!" she shouted, stretching her wings and morphing them into a shield to protect herself from the bullets. "Now… diamond radiance!!!" she yelled as she used the reflection from her wings, along with a good amount of youki, as a means to blind the Devil Hunter.

Dante shielded his eyes from the attack as he landed, and that was all Ranma needed. He swooped down, landed roughly in front of the blinded hunter, and began to punch him a couple of times in the gut, then on the face. Recovering from his temporary blindness, Dante grabbed both of Ranma's fists and then delivered a headbutt to the teen, blood gushing out the moment their heads collided. Ranma didn't let up though, he freed himself from the hunter's grasp and continued to attack him with a playful smile, not even once minding the fact that blood was flowing down his face.

"Take this!" Lilith shouted as she dove down and tried to take Dante's head off with her wings. She cursed when Dante ducked and she almost struck Ranma instead.

"Tch… pest…" Dante muttered as he took a side glance at the airborne Lilith. He continued to dodge Ranma's punches and kicks, patiently waiting for the perfect time to strike. When he noticed that the boy in front of him was not leaving any openings whatsoever, he reluctantly went for the offensive. He ducked and delivered a rising knee strike to Ranma's face which was blocked, but it was quickly followed by a kick to the chest, pushing the teen back from the force behind it.

The Devil Hunter didn't continue his attack though. He grabbed his sword Alastor and quickly threw it to the direction of the airborne succubus with a spin. He smiled when Alastor homed in on the girl as it tried to stab and fry her with electricity, "That should keep you busy for awhile," he said as he turned back to Ranma, "I hope that's not the best you've got kid."

Ranma chuckled at that, "Heh, you have no idea mister… you really have no idea how easily you've fallen into my territory…" he said as he literally melted on the spot.

Dante had to admit, if it wasn't for his large amount of fighting experience, he would've been a goner when Ranma appeared above him and brought down a weapon of sorts. He quickly pulled out a gun, spun it in his hand, turned around, and used its side to block Ranma's weapon before it sliced him in two. When he got a good look at the weapon though, he snarled and pushed Ranma back with all his strength, with him jumping back as well, "Oh, for the love of god, can't you come up with something more original?"

"Huh?" Ranma responded dumbly. He blinked a few times when Dante sighed in frustration, buried his face in one hand while his other hand pointed to the long, black scythe he was holding. "Eh? What's wrong with having a scythe for a weapon, mister?"

"Never mind, just die already," he said as he raised his arm and took another shot at the teen which successfully struck the right shoulder. He rushed in and grabbed Ranma's injured shoulder as he punched him several times with his free hand, then he threw Ranma to the direction the forest, shooting the kid in the air a few more times just for the heck of it.

Dante raised his arm and a few seconds later, Alastor returned to his grasp. Lilith actually avoided it for the most part, but she tired near the end and so she got slashed and electrocuted for her troubles, hey at least she was still breathing. The Hunter watched as the succubus shakily flew into the forest, probably to check on the kid, but he blinked when he heard Ranma's scream, right before he sensed the kid's presence disappear completely. "What the…"

Dante quickly snapped out of it and narrowed his eyes when Lilith screamed as her presence disappeared completely as well, "Shit…! Nightmare!" he yelled when ooze started yanking at his feet from the ground as it slowly covered his entire body and pretty soon, it swallowed him whole. A chilling laughter echoed inside the recesses of the castle walls as Nightmare slid under the castle door.

* * *

"Whoa… this is just like Itsuki-niichan's shadow demon," he paused for a moment, "Cool! Are we being eaten alive? Are we? Are we? Hey mister, are we being eaten?" he kept asking in his 'kawaii' tone

"Shut up," Dante muttered. How could he have been so stupid? He should've at least expected that kind of attack but he shrugged the thought out because, well, technically, Nightmare was supposed to be dead. That ooze along with the rest of that bastard's followers, were dead, most of them were killed by him, but some were killed by Mundus himself, the bastard.

Oh well, at least he found out that the two demons with him were not in league with Mundus, but he still had his doubts. That succubus, Lilith, was a horrible liar, he could easily tell that from her reactions to the boy's questions as he looked at them. The boy on the other hand, well, either he was an excellent actor or he was simply too innocent for his own good. Anyway, you couldn't blame the guy for being suspicious, he had been tricked before.

"Mou, we're inside a high level shadow demon, what next?" Lilith whined before glaring at the innocent teen, "This is all your fault! If you didn't go off on your own, we wouldn't even be in this mess!"

Ranma simply smiled at her, "But I felt a very strong spirit inside this castle! I feel that if I could assimilate something as powerful as that, then my powers would be restored completely and maybe then some! Isn't that what you wanted? For me to get strong again so that I could search for this person you're looking for, right?" he finished sweetly, even though there was a demonic look in his eyes.

Lilith gulped and nodded slowly as she shrank back from the gaze.

"Mundus," Dante started, catching their attention, "The spirit you're talking about is probably Mundus. He's a demon, a jerk, an asshole, a shithead, a bastard… you get the picture," he finished with a shrug, "I defeated him once in the human world, guess he was sent back here in this, whatever the hell this place is…"

"Makai," Lilith answered.

"Yeah… Makai," another shrug from Dante, "I thought I'd settle it once and for all but… heh, guess I was kinda careless back there, just didn't expect this moving blob to pop out all of a sudden," he muttered, shooting the ground a few times but it regenerated almost instantly. He turned towards the two and said, "You should probably prepare yourselves, Nightmare will most likely spawn out copies of some of the creatures all of us have faced…" he closed his eyes and smirked, "Speak of the devil…"

Lilith gasped when the creature that appeared in front of her was none other than a silhouette of her master, Jedah Dohma, "Aha ha ha, oh yes, I forgot… I tried to fight him that one time…"

Dante immediately pointed a gun even before the figure formed in front of him, but it wasn't a certain demonic Black Knight though, it was none other than a silhouette of his partner and fellow demon hunter, Trish. He chuckled at the mere sight of it, "Holy hell, guess I get to kick her ass again."

Ranma's eyes widened when a silhouette of a woman appeared in front of him, no, it wasn't his mother, but it was of a woman whom he was very fond off during his stay with his brother, a long, long time ago, "You… you'd make me fight her again…?" he whispered, trembling uncontrollably as he did so.

The three silhouettes laughed, seconds before lunging forward. Lilith and Dante avoided the attacks easily enough but Ranma simply stood there and took the hard blow to his chest, sending him flying into one of the blob pillars and embedding him there.

Having gotten used to this sort of thing, Dante casually disposed of Trish's silhouette by driving his knee to her stomach, jumping back, and then driving his sword through her body several times, Lilith also had an easy time with her opponent, sure, it had her master's moves but it couldn't do Jedah's assimilation techniques, which was the only reason as to why she couldn't drain the old coot. Since it couldn't copy it, she quickly sucked the life out of it and it swiftly turned to dust.

The third shadow ran towards Ranma and did a spin kick to the hybrid, hitting him on the side of his face. Spinning once more, the shadow kicked him yet again but it was then followed with an unusual attack. While still in the air, she held her palm up and a symbol appeared just in front of her hand. The shadow giggled before chuckling something at Ranma, it was a rain of ice daggers that struck him all over his body. Blood splattered out almost instantly as Ranma screamed from the intense pain it caused.

Lilith quickly flew in front of the embedded hybrid, oh no, she won't let him die yet! "If you want to kill him, you have to beat me first miss prissy!" She rotated her arms in a circular pattern as she gathered youki, "Soul… REFLECT!!!"

Caught by surprise, the shadow didn't have time to jump back. The spherical, spinning projectile went right through her by tearing a hole on her chest. To add insult to injury, Lilith smiled and gave the shadow a quick peck on the cheek before it turned to dust.

Dante stood there, looking at Ranma's form with a frown. If he didn't know better, the kid's behavior was unusual, yet quite understandable considering the situation. Repressed memories, the kid's reaction to that shadow led him to that early conclusion. Something happened between that kid and the woman that silhouette tried to copy from his memories… that was all he could think off to explain the kid's fear and hesitation the moment he saw the shadow.

Before anyone could say or do anything, the ground began to wobble, the pillars of ooze started melting, and a small crack can be seen from up above. The three had to shield their eyes when a bright light nearly blinded them all.

* * *

Dante, Lilith, and a badly wounded Ranma found themselves inside the castle, in the main hall, with the shadow demon Nightmare just a few feet away from them. Dante was about to attack when he noticed that Ranma was tugging at his coat, "What are you doing kid?! Let go, I have to kill this blob!"

Ranma smiled maniacally, "No, allow me. I already found its real weakness while we were inside it," he said with a murderous glare. Jumping forward, he buried his hand into Nightmare's center, instantly breaking its dimensional wall and easily grasping its real spirit, "YOU WILL NOT USE HER AGAIN!!! DO YOU HEAR ME?! NEVER AGAIN!!!"

Nightmare howled before taking a more solid form, with Ranma's hand still buried in its center. It howled again and the solidified blob began melting on the spot, Ranma was laughing like a madman as he watched it slowly wilt to nothing. Lilith gasped when she noticed that the teen's wounds were closing up, and his power was returning at a tremendous rate, "He can already assimilate that large amount?!"__

"Die! Die! Die!"

Nightmare howled for the last time as its liquefied body vanished forever.

Ranma panted as he tried to catch his breath, assimilation was hard, but at least he got most of his powers back and it was all thanks to that blob. Still, he wondered if there will be stronger demons besides Nightmare, and that made him turn to Dante with a serious look, "Hey mister, if we are going to get out of here in one piece, I think a truce is in order, don't you think?" he said, offering his hand to the bewildered Devil Hunter.

Dante looked him in the eye and could see nothing but childish innocence, guess he blocked it out of his mind again. He hesitated for a moment before finally shaking Ranma's hand, "Yeah, for now…"

Lilith rolled her eyes at the whole thing.

Just then, a sick, twisted giggle echoed throughout the corridor, right before several gigantic scythes phased through the wall, it was followed by floating spirits in dark, hooded cloaks, and animal bone heads.

Dante turned to Ranma and in a deadpan, he said, "See what I mean when I said that your weapon was unoriginal?"

* * *

Mukuro smiled slightly as a certain Wargod entered her chambers. She hadn't expected him to arrive at her domain this fast, in less than a day even, guess there still was some fire left in him after all. She could sense that Yomi was also running towards her place at high speed, my, my, these two sure didn't like to let a woman wait. She focused back to Raizen, giving him a friendly nod as she said, "It's been a long time, old friend. I presume that you're here because of a certain plague that has resurfaced?"

Raizen grunted a bit, "You know that it's the only reason for me to see you after the countless arguments we had over the consumption of human flesh."

"I'm deeply hurt by that. You were the one that said that I was like a sister to you, yet our arguments over human consumption quickly broke our relationship. I truly missed those times, you know, with you and the rest of our group, Enki, Koko… I hear she still drinks too much, huh?"

Giving a low chuckle, Raizen nodded in response.

Mukuro smiled slightly at that. "It was too bad things had to go this way, I mean, the three rulers breaking up and dividing Makai like that. But what's done is done… we have to live through our decisions, no matter how difficult they might seem," she coughed a bit before she continued, "Well, I sensed your involvement with a fight a day or two back, care to tell me what was that all about? Especially the one you were fighting against."

"Just teaching a brat of a descendant some lesson in 'power'," he answered, shrugging his shoulders at the whole thing. His eyes turned serious when he said, "His opponent at the time however, was another story. He's a descendant of that bastard, and I don't think I finished him off back there."

"I see…"

"Aha ha ha! What is this? The ever so powerful Raizen admitting that he couldn't finish a mere descendant? I never realized you have gotten that weak!"

Raizen and Mukuro turned towards the door, where a smirking Yomi was standing with his arms crossed.

Mukuro shook her head, "You never change." She motioned for the two to join her, "Well now that the three rulers are here, we should start our talks about the Dohma family and their plans to destroy Makai…" she paused when her general Kiri burst into the room with a shocked look.

"Lady Mukuro, Lord Yomi, Lord Raizen! The Soul Bee tribe is attacking Lord Yomi's domain!"

"What was that?!"

* * *

_**Steal a soul for a second chance  
or you will never become a man**_

"Look!!! It's the Soul Bee tribe!" a demon shouted in a mixture of shock and fear. It couldn't be helped. The Soul Bee tribe was well-known for their enormous numbers and an even bigger appetite for demonic souls. One thing that bothered the demon was that the Soul Bee tribe never moved in this part of Makai before because of Lord Yomi's power so what purpose do they have in coming here… unless…

One woman screamed when a couple of bee drones went inside a few houses, their break-in was followed by blood gushing out the windows and screams of their fellow demons. The woman's scream became even louder when the drones moved closer and closer to where she was at, "T-T-They're coming this way!!! Run!!!"

_**I just told you all, it makes me stronger  
in a life that creeps no longer**  
  
_

Several more drones swooped down and slashed the heads off of a few demons with relative ease. Q-bee buzzed loudly as she pointed toward Yomi's fortress, to which most of the drones nodded and immediately went for it with the intent to kill Yomi's elite army before they could even be deployed into the city.

Screams echoed throughout the fortress, screams of the soldiers dying, being dismembered, or both. It wasn't like they were weak or anything, they were ranked lower B-class after all, but the Soul Bee tribe was simply too strong for them to take on. A-class demons were having trouble stopping this tribe because of their strength in numbers alone, what could an army of B ranked demons do against thousands of Soul Stealers?

_**Fade away, a quest for life  
Until the end, judgment nighs**_

"Get the women and children out of here! Well try to hold them off… ahhh!!!"

"Somebody help us please! My child is dying! Please save us…! Aaaahhh!"

"Lord Yomi!!!!"

_**Stepping forth, the cure for a soul's demise  
Reap the tears of the victim's cries  
Yearning more to kill the suffer of a  
brother demon that's supported under**  
  
_

The drones had a sick smile on their faces as they ripped out souls from the dead demons scattered throughout the city. Some of them chased after the remaining demons and killed them via a stinger to the head, absorbing their souls as they did so. Q-bee buzzed loudly to catch her army's attention, she raised an arm up and the drones nodded with a smile. They quickly began to torch the buildings, houses, and the bodies of the demons. It was obvious that no one was going to be spared from this massacre, absolutely no one.

**_Kill before a time to kill them all!  
Backstab the righteous law  
Serving justice that dwells in me  
Nothing comes as far as the eye can see!!!___**

"Heeeeeeehaahaahaahaahaahaahaaaaaaaa!" a sick and twisted laughter echoed throughout the area.

The entire Soul Bee tribe stopped in their massacre of the city, looked up to the blood red sky, and gave a bow and dark smile to the winged figure above them. Jedah smiled back at his servants before gesturing for them to continue the massacre of the city. "Hear me people of Makai! Give your souls to us! I swear that it will be used for the good of the realm! It's something that your beloved ruler never, ever tried to do!"

_**We are falling, the night is calling  
The tears inside me, coming down**_

Jedah stretched his wings, ripped open his coat and exposed his demonic chest. He smiled maniacally as the souls proceeded to go inside his demonic heart, slowly assimilating them into himself and making him stronger with each successful assimilation. He then noticed a small demon child crying right below him. He frowned, stopped his assimilation, and flew down to land right in front of the boy.

_**Midnight coming, here softly sobbing  
Ground me without your relief**  
  
_

Q-bee frowned when she noticed Jedah's hesitation. Why was he stopping? Did he have a sudden change of heart? Her frowned deepened after every thought, but the frown quickly turned into a sick smile when she saw what Jedah did to the boy. Nope, he hadn't changed at all.

_**Bless me with the leaf of a poetry  
On it, I see the freedom reign**_

"I'm sorry, but it is for the future of Makai…" Jedah whispered as he drove his hand inside a small demon child, forcefully pulling the soul out. "You, the populace, may not understand it now, but the rest of Makai will understand my actions in due time. Until then, I'm so sorry…" He swiftly crushed the spirit and looked up, his sad eyes gazing intently at the dark-red sky.

**_Raised through my father, blessed by the water  
Black night, dark sky - the devils cry___**

* * *

Yomi screamed as he slammed his fists on a table, smashing it in two. He growled out Jedah's name over and over again, and tears of blood surprisingly started to fall down his closed eyes. "They're dead. My army… my generals… my people… Shura… Curse you!!! I will kill you Jedah!!!"

Raizen had his back turned against him, probably because he saw the image of himself when his comrades were killed in front of his eyes all those years ago. Mukuro uncharacteristically went over to Yomi and placed her hand on his shoulder. Yes, quite a pitiful attempt at being sympathetic but at least it was a start. This threat was the only one that bonded them as friends in the past, and ironically, after many quarrels throughout the years, it seemed that they were reliving old times once more.

Yomi slapped Mukuro's hand away, "Leave me alone, I don't need your pity."

Raizen snorted, "Leave him be. He's too damn stubborn for his own good."

Mukuro glared slightly at Raizen before turning to her general with a sigh, "Kiri, what is the report on the Soul Bee tribe's location? Did you find out where they are headed?"

"Reports say that the Soul Bee tribe is now crossing the sea of ice, Daimasou, and from the looks of it, it appears that they're headed towards Gilala Gila, the center of Makai." Kiri finished in a slightly shaken voice.

Mukuro gasped loudly while Raizen's eyes widened slightly in surprise. The dormant Volcano Gilala Gila? Of course, no one in their right mind would want to go there unless they want to commit suicide by attempting to use one of the three secret gates it had inside it. With the Soul Bee tribe taking over it and its surrounding land, it was safe to assume that the higher nobles guarding it, the Lepe family, had been wiped out.

"I should've known… the Dohma family was very fond of that place."

Raizen quickly slammed his palm on a table, fire burning in his eyes, "I say we stop them while we still have the chance. The destruction of Yomi's army was a great blow to the strength of the three rulers but all is not lost. We can still stop them if we attack them this instant, right when they're least expecting it."

Mukuro nodded, "Agreed. We will destroy Gilala Gila as soon as possible."

"Good. I already called my comrades yesterday… they'll arrive in my tower in a day or two. You should do the same to the generals of your army, Mukuro. We all know now that it was a mistake to underestimate his power."

* * *

"I never realized I was this irritating to fight," Ranma muttered, chopping a Death Scythe in half, "But it sure is fun to hack and slash while we go up this spiral staircase!" This was so much fun! It was also quite fun when they were fighting those shadow hounds while they introduced themselves to each other, Lilith was practically running like a bat out of hell in that one!

"Figures you'd enjoy fighting death," Lilith mumbled, blasting three Death Scythes with a barrage of Soul Reflects, "You should be partnered with this hunter. I bet you two will get along just fine."

Dante grinned, shooting quite a number of them down with several well-placed shots to the head, "Kid, you're alright, dunno about your baby sister though. She seems more like excess baggage… you should just get rid of her, it's for your own good." _'Not to mention she's lying out of her ass with that innocent act.' _He pointed a gun at Lilith before she could even react at his comment, "Care to tell me otherwise, demon?" he said coldly.

Lilith glared at the Devil Hunter, but said nothing.

"Hey come on now, Lilith's not all that bad," Ranma began, making a certain succubus to blush slightly, "I mean, yes, she's a bad kisser, more annoying than any human I've ever encountered, and as you would put it, a pain in the ass at times but you'd get used to her soon enough."

"Gee… thanks for the vote of confidence Ranma," Lilith said with a twitch.

Ranma smiled widely before suddenly turning serious, "Uh-oh, two powerful spirits lie beyond those doors… but it's odd… it's like that they are cursed… like they're under some kind of spell or something."

Dante frowned, "Probably Mundus' handy work." He placed both hands on the steel doors and began to push them with all his might, "Might as well get this over with."

The door opened and the Devil Hunter's eyes widened when he saw a large arena, and in the center stood two figures, one was a gigantic bird who had electric arcs circling its body while the other caused him to curse loudly. It was a Black Knight, a Knight he killed long ago… a very goddamn familiar Black Knight.

The three walked into the arena, eyeing the two figures cautiously. It was then that Ranma noticed that Dante's eyes were focused solely on the Knight. He smiled happily as he said, "Looks like you have some business to take care of with this knight-wannabe so we'll take on tweety bird instead, see you later mister!" he yelled as he and Lilith flew up and looked down at the gigantic bird, "We're up here! Your fight is with us!"

Dante kept his eyes focused on the Black Knight in front of him, his grip on his handguns got tighter with each passing second. He finally growled, held up an arm, and pointed a gun to the Black Knight's head, "You're not him… you're just a fake."

The Black Knight known as Nelo Angelo just chuckled darkly.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the very top chambers of the castle, Mundus sat on his throne, his attention completely on the fight going on downstairs. If Dante could see the look on his face when he saw his brother in that arena… ha! Priceless! Did he really think Nelo Angelo would die that easily? Did he really think that he had saved his brother's soul back then? If he did, then he was Sparda's son indeed! No one could be more gullible than him and his pathetic line of half-breeds!

The only thing that irked him now was that wretched clone wasn't with the Hunter. The fool, if she just did the things he had told her then Sparda's son would've been dead by now. But the fool had to follow her demonic heart as she chose to side with the Devil Hunter… 'Looks like we have a winner', bah! He'll get her yet!

Mundus smiled, the demonic bird Griffon did make a fine servant back then, but he was even more excellent now that he had become just another mindless puppet for him to use. He was sure that the demonic bird can take those two nuisances down with little trouble at all.

Speaking of the nuisances, there was something about those two that made him tense for some odd reason, some familiar presence… some kind of power that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He quickly shrugged it off, no use worrying about such things when they were about to die. Besides, he wanted to watch the Devil Hunter in action.

Ha ha! He still had so many things to tell him. Did that hybrid really think that he knew all about his father? That demon was one of the most fearsome demons in Makai. Yes, a fearsome demon, not a fearsome Devil Hunter. He laughed out loud as he concentrated back on the fight that was going on down below. He never did notice the small, parasitic demon that was slowly crawling up his chair…

* * *

Nelo Angelo successfully stabbed Dante on the shoulder, continuing the attack by lifting the Devil Hunter via the embedded sword, and slamming him on the opposite side. He pulled the sword out and chuckled as he stomped hard on Dante's exposed wound.

Spitting up blood, Dante grabbed Nelo Angelo's foot and twisted it slightly so that he would fall to the side. He twirled back up, pulled out his own sword, and pointed it to Nelo Angelo's direction, "Come on… let's finish this."

The Black Knight laughed before rushing in and attacking Dante with an overhead, two-handed, downward swipe which the Hunter blocked and parried quite easily, leaving Nelo Angelo open for a brief second. With uncanny speed, Dante crouched low and pulled back his sword before thrusting it forward, with his sword going right through Nelo Angelo's chest.

Time seemed to stop right then and there, but to Dante's surprise, Nelo Angelo laughed and even had the strength to stab him right back into his already injured shoulder, pushing him back and forcing him to lose his grip on his sword Alastor. Nelo Angelo snarled as he pulled Alastor out of his chest, completely bearing the intense pain it caused with its lightning attack, and then he threw it to the side.

Dante shook his head slightly to get rid off the dizziness he was feeling. He looked up and screamed as his body was encased with youki. Wings sprouted from his back, his hair stood up, and his body took on a monstrous form. He cocked his head to the side and growled at Nelo Angelo, his hand gesturing for him to make a move.

* * *

Ranma snarled as he was struck down by Griffon's beak. He flew back up and groaned when he looked at his energy-induced clothes. It was a good thing they can be repaired when I get healed up. Still, for a large bird, Griffon sure moves fast in the air, faster than him even.

Griffon sent a dozen red orbs towards the hybrid, followed by massive gusts of wind courtesy of the demonic bird's wings. Ranma avoided the orbs, but he had to shield his eyes from the wind gusts, and that was what Griffon needed. The bird quickly threw a red blast that struck the teen's chest, it then began to wrap around his body, forming an energy bind. Ranma struggled to get free but the demonic bird had other ideas. Griffon flew in front of the teen and began to gather a huge amount of energy on its beak, he then released it, and a large energy blast was sent towards the teen seconds later.

"Ranma!"

Lilith shoved the teen to the side and she took the brunt of the energy blast instead. Both crashed down on the ground hard. Ranma broke free of the energy binds and took a short glance at the grimacing Lilith, then at the two glowing pillars just across him. He shakily stood up, and immediately ran towards the two pillars. He looked back at Lilith over his shoulder as he shouted, "Lilith, keep the bird busy for a minute will you? I'm gonna go try something!"

"Not even a simple thank you… ugh, men, no wonder we enjoy sucking the life out of you guys." she snarled as she tried to get up. She immediately snapped her head up when Ranma's words kicked in, "Keep him busy?! That's easy for you to say!"

* * *

Dante, still in devil form, punched Nelo Angelo in the face several times. Staggering from the assault, Nelo Angelo tried to fight back with a few random punches and kicks but Dante just countered with well-timed punches of his own, delivering them with such force that it made the Knight jump back from each blow.

Nelo Angelo took another random swing to which Dante avoided with a backflip. The Devil Hunter cupped his hands to the side and began to gather energy, and then he threw a number of energy blasts at Nelo Angelo's wounded chest, pushing him way back with each connecting blow. He was surprised yet again when the Black Knight was still standing after that attack. He morphed back into human form, pulled out his guns, and started pumping him with lead instead.

Nelo Angelo covered his face for the most part, until Dante kicked him down to the ground. The Black Knight tried to reach for the sword near his side but to his dismay, Dante already stepped on it. He hesitantly looked up, only to see a shiny little gun barrel before seeing nothing but white…

**Bang!**

* * *

Lilith screamed when Griffon swooped down and clamped his beak to her body, forcing her to spit out blood by the force applied behind it, _'I can't… help me…'_

Ranma was standing between two energy pillars, oh, and he had a smile as he watched the succubus being gnawed by the demonic bird. He can't help it, it looked like fun! Breathing deeply, he closed his eyes and concentrated his Sei Kou Ki. A moment later, he snapped open his eyes as he buried his hands into the energy pillars, with him instantly absorbing the large amount of power they had, "Yes… just what I needed! I'm back at full strength!"

Another piercing scream from Lilith brought him back to reality. "Oh! Right, the bird…" he muttered as he pulled out his hands from the pillars and cupped them in front of him. He grinned when an enormous energy orb formed soon after. He didn't realize he had become this powerful! "Reikou Resshuu Shien Dan!"

Griffon screamed as he was struck with what seemed like an endless blast of homing reiki, allowing Lilith to fly to safety. They repeatedly tore through his wings, his legs, his beak, and his tail. Ranma smiled darkly when Griffon came crashing down head first onto the concrete floor, "Ouch… maybe I overdid it… naaah!" He topped it off with one very large ki wave that destroyed the demon bird's body entirely.

Ranma frowned when he noticed that Lilith crashed down as well. He ran up to her and he was surprised to see her bloody and unconscious, near-death to be exact. "I really thought you were playing around," he whispered, stroking her hair a little. _'I'll probably gonna regret this but…' _With a small sigh, he leaned in and kissed her on the lips, allowing Lilith to drain some of his energy for her to recover. Since he was back at full strength, and since he was now stronger than her, he can now control the amount of energy being drained from him if he concentrated enough.

A few moments later, he broke the kiss and pulled back, but he blinked when Lilith, having recovered slightly, simply stared back at him with raised eyebrows.

"What? You were expecting me to say 'My hero'? Please!" she said, pushing the hybrid aside as she got up, "Why do you always make me do the hard work? You two hybrids are unbelievable…" she continued on and on, much to the building ire of the two men.

Dante's hand visibly twitched as it inched closer and closer to his gun, _'Should I kill her or not? Questions, questions, questions, ah, what the hell, it's not like anyone, including the kid, will miss her that much… what the…'_

"Hey mister, let me do it… lend me a gun and I'll gladly blow her head off," Ranma whispered to the Hunter.

Dante paused for a moment then replied, "Deal! Just do it quick." He handed the kid one of his handguns and stepped back, quite curious if the kid will really shoot the nuisance, but he had a feeling that he was only playing…

**Bang!**

Okay, so he was wrong on that one.

* * *

At the Saotome, now Kirishima home, Nodoka sat next to a window and stared expressionlessly at the sky, with Ayame standing right beside her. Nodoka had visibly gotten paler, and the air surrounding her was 'unfriendly' at best. Ever since Koenma revived her, she had never spoken to anyone other than Ayame, but it was very clear that hatred was the only thing going on in her mind right now.

Ayame shivered every time she looked at her friend. She shivered even more when she remembered that one time when someone accidentally mentioned Ranma's name in front of the ex-tantei. Nodoka snapped, breaking any furniture she could get a hold on, blasting everything in sight, and screaming her son's name every time she opened her mouth. The worst part was that she was still as strong as back when she was still a Reikai Tantei, maybe even stronger.

Ayame choked back a sob. How did things get this worse? From what Kurama had told her, Ranma knew that his mother was still alive, and she just knew that he'll come back one day to finish the job once and for all, no matter what. That was the least of her concerns though… she was more worried about her friend. Nodoka was up to something. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but she was sure that the ex-tantei was planning something against her own child.

The dark-haired spirit woman looked at her friend once more. Her eyes widened slightly and she shook her head, sobbed once more, and looked outside the window as tears fell freely from her face.

Nodoka simply had an innocent, yet eerie smile on her face.

* * *

"You should've killed her."

"Meh,"

Dante and Ranma were walking up a flight of stairs. Lilith was currently shot, gagged and all tied up by Ranma's morphed wings and was now being carried up the stairs by the hybrid. She also had a flesh wound on the side of her face due to Ranma's poor aim with the gun earlier.

Ranma whistled, "How much longer do we have to climb up?"

"You know, you could just put the girl down and fly up."

Lilith nodded vigorously at the suggestion, to which Ranma intentionally ignored, "Yeah I could, but do you really want her out? Do you really want to listen to her constant whining and nagging again?"

That was all Dante needed to hear, "Good point."

Lilith struggled even more and with tearful, pleading eyes, she looked at Ranma over her shoulder, hoping that the hybrid would at least look back at her, "Mrrrphhh! Mmmnnnn!!!!"

With a sigh, Ranma looked back at her and said, "Fine, I'll let you go if you promise to shut up, alright?" Seeing quite a vigorous nod from the succubus, Ranma sighed again as he willed his wings to release the bound and gagged girl.

"Finally!" she exclaimed, stretching her arms, legs, and wings, "I thought I'd never get out of that hell hole! I swear, if it wasn't for his ability to locate my sister, I would've sucked him dry by now…" she stopped when she saw Ranma staring at her with a sweet smile, a smile he used before ripping the soul out of that dog demon. She chuckled nervously as she said, "Eheheh, right, sorry, I'll shut up now."

"Good girl."

A thunderous scream echoed along the corridors, startling the three. Dante knew it was Mundus, but he knew that wasn't a scream someone would do when his lackeys were defeated, it was a scream someone would do when he was very close to dying. The three looked at each other, and then rushed up the stairs that led to Mundus' chambers.

* * *

The three arrived at the very top of the castle and were now standing in front of a closed, gigantic metal door that no normal demon or human could possibly open. Dante stood back as he tapped a handgun on his lap, obviously in deep thought at what he had heard a little while ago. Ranma was trying to push the doors open but to no avail. Above him was Lilith, who was also trying her best to help the teen out.

Lilith flew down and leaned on the door, exhausted, "It's no use. Nothing can move this thing unless you have an army of demons with you," she whined.

Ranma placed a hand on the door, "Hmm… you may be right, but it still doesn't hurt to try," he said as he tried to blast it with Sei Kou Ki, then youki, then just plain reiki. He laughed nervously and placed a hand at the back of his head, "Eheh, not even a scratch…"

"That's what you get for trying to showoff, you can't destroy it with such a lame blast," Lilith muttered.

"Is that so? I'd like to see you do better, granny."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

Their argument was put to a stop when the door slowly began to open. What awaited them on the other side was not Mundus however, but an enormous monster. It was as tall as a four-storey building, had grayish armored skin, two massive, long arms and legs, and finally, it had a small, circular-type orb for a head. It howled once, and four, long whip-like appendages came out of its chest. Dante and Ranma quickly readied themselves for an expected attack, Lilith however…

Lilith had gone white as sheet as she stared at the creature in front of her in abject horror, "A Kamui golem! NO! They can't be active! It's impossible!!!!" she screeched in denial.

Dante and Ranma took a moment to look at the panicking succubus before jumping out of the way to avoid the golem's massive, elongated, long arms that tried to take their heads off, with Ranma pulling the horrified girl to the side with him. Dante rolled, got on one knee, and fired a volley of devil bullets to the golem but Kamui seemingly just absorbed the bullets. No, from the sound that it was making, it was as if that the golem was actually eating the bullets.

Ranma placed Lilith on a secluded part of the room before flying in front of the golem. He was surprised at the sudden burst of speed the four whip appendages had when they wrapped themselves around his neck, his waist, and his arms. They soon began to tighten their hold, choking Ranma as well as slowly crushing his internal organs in the process. "Ugh… I… can't… breathe…"

Dante jumped in and sliced the four appendages with his sword, successfully chopping it off before he pointed his arm to Kamui's head. Seconds later, black ooze wrapped itself around said arm and formed a weapon of some kind. The Devil Hunter smirked as the weapon launched a bluish blast that continuously struck the golem. Ranma added to the attack by forming a scythe in his hands and throwing it at the golem. It easily chopped off its arms and pretty soon, its legs, forcing it to fall flat on its back as Dante's blast continued its relentless attack until the golem stopped moving.

"That was easy…" the Devil Hunter muttered with a frown. He didn't expect that kind of opponent, plus where was Mundus anyway? Mundus wasn't in the room, but he was pretty sure he can still sense his presence around the area. Either he was good at hiding or… no… can't be… the golem…?

Ranma was on all fours and coughed a few times before chuckling out, "Heh, no kidding. It was pretty strong though, I couldn't move an inch when he grabbed me."

The two jumped when Kamui sprang forth a new set of appendages as it began to stir. Dante's eyes narrowed when Kamui's arms and legs regenerated as well but he was more concerned at what it was doing next, it was shedding its skin like a snake. Dante gripped his sword tightly while Ranma summoned his cross-shaped boomerang and the two readied themselves for an attack.

Lilith saw this and immediately began screaming to the two, "Stop fighting it! We can't defeat it with just the three of us so just stop!" she pleaded, "I don't care what you guys say but we really cannot stop it once it evolves into its first cycle! You can hack all you want but it will only regenerate and create a much more powerful armor around itself so please…!" she said as she got on her knees while sobbing profusely, as if she was a person who had lost all hope.

That little speech didn't faze the two hybrids one bit. Instead, they actually smiled and attacked Kamui again and again, neither one caring whether the golem regenerates or not. Their attack was stopped however, when they suddenly heard an irritating ringing in their ears, Lilith and the Kamui were affected as well.

"Ahhh! What is this?!"

Dante, Ranma, and Lilith were struck by a huge pillar of light. The light, to their surprise, protected them from any further attacks from the Kamui golem. The three screamed when the light intensified, pretty much lighting up the entire castle. A few moments later, the group vanished, leaving only the Kamui golem inside the room.

Lilith groaned, shaking her head as she tried to get up. She opened her eyes and groaned even louder when she noticed the odd structure of their surroundings, structures that were only present on one specific place, and it wasn't on Makai.

"Where are we?" Both Dante and Ranma asked, having come to and were now looking around the area.

Lilith sighed and rubbed her temples as she said, "Oh boy, looks like we got transported into Master Jedah's very own dimensional realm, the Majigen."

* * *

**AN: **That song when Jedah destroyed Yomi's domain was from the DMC3 trailer. Anyway, this chapter mainly focused on Dante and his DMC1 storyline, I thought it would help the readers understand him a little better. I used DMC1 because DMC2 was… better not go there. The Kamui golem is a variation of the Sakura Wars Kamui and a beast from a mythology I read a long time ago. (Dunno if it was Maya or Aztec… ah, I'll dig it up later)

The female shadow Ranma refused to fight? Well, it will be cleared later on, and let's just say that she was very important to our deranged teen.

**Next: The Evil Realm Majigen I: The Gathering**

_"Whoa… is there a party or something going on in here Lilith?"_

_"Oh no, the Darkstalkers… I forgot about them…"_


	7. Evil Realm Majigen I: The Gathering

_A Ranma ½ / Yu Yu Hakusho / Sakura Wars / Inu Yasha / Darkstalkers / Devil May Cry / Multi-crossover_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ranma ½ and Yu Yu Hakusho or any other anime/game titles for that matter. Though I sometimes wish I was a class-S youkai…heh.

-----

"Majigen?" the two hybrids asked.

Lilith sweated when she noticed the intense glare Ranma was giving her. Plus, Dante's hand seemed to be inching closer to his guns, the trigger happy hunter. She cursed silently. She just had to mention the word 'Master' to the two of them. Oh well, no use moping about it now. "Eh heh, it's a totally different dimension from Ningenkai and Makai. Time passes differently in this realm as well. Jedah created this from the thousands of souls he has assimilated into himself."

Ranma wasn't through yet, "…and the 'Master' part?"

The succubus looked down and shuffled her feet, "Uh… oh heck, might as well tell you the whole thing. Hundreds of years ago, my power was divided into three parts by that lying, dirty, no-good, son of a bitch! Uh, sorry… kinda got carried away there… ahem, by that bastard Berial. He sealed a third into himself, another third into my original body, and the last third into a sealed dimensional space that only he had access to. I was formed from that sealed space even before Berial croaked. When he died, the one sealed inside him returned to my original body but I did not. Hee hee, it's because I was pretty much the dominant part of the three since I have my past memories before the split happened.

I freed myself from that space but I found out that I couldn't last for long without a body. I frantically tried to search for my other half but I could only go so far. In just a few days, I started to get weak, and I knew that I'd be dead by now if it hadn't been for Master Jedah. He found my spirit form just after he was resurrected. At first he was going to assimilate me into himself but he stopped and listened to what I had to say, then, he offered to give me a temporary body if I agreed to help him find powerful souls for him to assimilate. I agreed of course, and this body you see before you was the one I chose for myself."

By now, a noticeable twitch formed on Ranma's head, "So you helped me survive my fight with Raizen to help you find your other half right?" he saw Lilith nod her head, "Okay, but why do I get the feeling that you also want me and Dante to be part of the souls to be assimilated by this Jedah character after I located your other half?"

Lilith sweated under their gaze.

Ranma went silent then turned to Dante with a sigh, "You were right, I should've killed her."

-----

**_Dark Ascension_**

_By Insane Blight_

**The Evil Realm Majigen I: The Gathering**

* * *

Morrigan grimaced in pain as she started to wake up. She slowly sat up and blinked when the first thing she saw was the blood red sky that kind of resembled the aurora borealis, though this one seemed beautiful and deadly at the same time. She winced as she finally got up, what in the nine hells happened to her anyway? "Okay, calm down Morrigan. Now let's see… I was on my way to Aensland Castle when this strange light suddenly appeared above me and then… nothing." She frowned slightly, "Well, one thing's for sure… whoever did this is dead."

She flapped her wings and she patted her butt, dusting herself a bit. She took another moment to look at her surroundings, this was definitely not Makai. From the numerous blob pillars, to the absolutely grotesque creatures swimming on a number of fire and ice pits, yes, this was definitely not Makai. Daimakai, the sea of flames, never had such hideous creatures, Daimasou didn't either. She should know, she destroyed the creatures living in those two seas herself, but that was because Berial ordered her to do so.

"Morri-chan? Morri-chan, is that you?" a shaky voice called out from behind.

Morrigan blinked, snapping out of her thoughts. There was only one creature in the three realms that called her by that name, well, the only creature that she allowed to call her by that name. She looked over her shoulder and, yes, there she was, the cat woman and fellow Darkstalker, Felicia. Well, she and Felicia became friends during the events that led to Pyron. Since the Aensland family and the cat-women race were very good allies in the past, the two Darkstalkers really had no trouble getting along with each other and besides, Felicia was quite a partner in bed too, but that's another story. "Felicia? What are you doing here? No, scratch that, where in the nine hells are we?"

Felicia sniffed a bit, "I was about to ask you the same thing. I was taking care of my fellow cat-women when this scary bright light shone down on me and…"

"You blacked out after that, right?"

"Yes."

Morrigan sighed as she embraced the sobbing cat woman, with Felicia burying her face on her chest. She knew that the poor girl was thinking about the other cat-women she left behind, probably worrying herself to death about their well-being ever since she got here. She can't blame her though, there were only a few cat-women left after the powerful Soul Bee tribe attacked their home all those years ago, so Felicia probably treated every cat-women she met as if they were family. "There, there, we'll find a way out of here, I promise… Ahhhhh!!!!"

Felicia was pushed back when the succubus clutched her head in pain. The cat woman watched, wide-eyed as Morrigan screamed one last time before collapsing to the ground, unconscious. Felicia quickly kneeled beside her and started to shake her gently, "Morri-chan! What's wrong? Morri-chan!"

* * *

Demitri chuckled as he looked down on his enemies, "Heheh, what a pathetic sight. I should've never wasted my time on you peons."

Lord Raptor and Anakaris were lying on the ground, unmoving. The two Darkstalkers immediately fought each other the moment they arrived in this realm. Anakaris was obviously winning due to his phenomenal strength, but he was also tiring himself out from the amount of power he was using against Lord Raptor. He won in the end, but his victory was short-lived when Demitri flew in and blasted him the minute he let his guard down. Lord Raptor shared a similar fate when he came to and saw the vampire lord looming over his already prone form.

The vampire lord laughed as he spun, his dark cloak flowing behind him. A realm far different from Makai and Ningenkai, and it seemed that it was only occupied by the Darkstalkers. What made this place perfect was the fact that he could sense a familiar succubus in the area as well. "Ah, Morrigan Aensland, it's quite a delight knowing that you are in this place as well my dear. I'll have the pleasure of having you for myself."

He left afterwards, not minding at all that the two Darkstalkers' hands were still moving as they start to regain their senses. It wasn't like they could be of any threat to him anymore and besides, he still had a succubus to capture.

* * *

"Heeheeheehee, Darkstalkers, I'll definitely enjoy putting you all out of your misery." The Dark Hunter Bulleta chuckled as she smiled darkly at the downed creatures in front of her, the merman Rikuo and Sasquatch. "Oh, this is heaven… so many Darkstalkers to kill! I can still sense quite a number all around me!"

She backed up when Sasquatch growled and glared fiercely at her as he tried to get up. Bulleta looked at him curiously, innocence all over her face, but that innocence quickly turned into a sick, sadistic, maniacal look. "Heehee, you dare look at a Special S-class Dark Hunter like that? You dumb or something?"

"Grrr…"

Bulleta kneeled down in front of Sasquatch and cupped his face. "Mine! Mine! Mine! You're all mine!!! All of you Darkstalkers are MINE!!!" She grinned as she forcefully opened his mouth and threw in four grenades before he could even blast her with his ice breath. She jumped back, put on her red hood, grabbed her basket full of weapons, and merrily skipped down the road, smiling maniacally when she heard the beast's howl before the massive explosion.

"Now then, who's next? Oh! I sense a werewolf nearby! This is great! La la la la la la la!"

* * *

"You really don't remember anything at all?" the Dark Hunter Donovan Baine asked.

"No… I feel like I've met you before but… uh… I just can't remember," fellow Dark Hunter Lei-Lei replied.

Donovan sighed, helping the lost girl up her feet. He had met Lei-Lei and her sister in the past. They even worked together in destroying several vampire lairs in Ningenkai, but now it seemed that the poor girls were suffering from memory loss. He knew it wasn't just normal amnesia, he knew that there was somebody behind it, most likely the one who sent them to this place. "Is your sister still posing as your seal when you are in Kyong-Shi form?"

"Y-Yes, Lin-Lin still acts as my seal so I may not lose myself… other than that, and the knowledge of several techniques, we have no recollection of our past… nothing at all…"

The damphir frowned when he suddenly sensed Demitri's presence in the area. "We should go find whoever is behind all this. I'm quite certain that your memories will be restored once we defeat it."

Lei-Lei didn't know what to say. She and her sister were alone in this realm, with no memories whatsoever. But… this man, this damphir… they felt something. They felt that they could trust him, and they felt that he would look after them as long as they needed it. "Okay… I guess… we'll join you."

* * *

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I promise I won't do it again! Honest! So don't drop me into the fire pit! DON'T DROP ME INTO THE PIT!!! Pleeeaaaseee!!!"

Dante had to control himself from laughing his ass off at the sight before him. Ranma lifted a tied up Lilith above his head, and was now walking towards one of the volcanic fire pits that were abundant in the area. The little talk with Lilith really set the teen off. Oh don't get him wrong, Ranma said that he knew the succubus was lying to him about some things, he just wanted her to admit it to his face, but sadly, she never did. Now, the kid said that he'll just fry her ass and eat her soul for breakfast, and he looked pretty damn serious about doing it.

"Please!!! I'll be your servant instead! I'll even be your slave! Your sex slave if you want! Just don't kill me please, Ranma! Argh! I'll do anything you say! I'll do anything to get you to put me down!" Lilith yelled with tears running down her face.

Ranma wasn't paying attention though. He was currently eyeing something neither Lilith nor Dante could see. "Whoa… is there a party going on here, Lilith? There are a lot of powerful demons roaming around the place, and when I say powerful, I do mean powerful!"

Lilith blinked, then gasped, "Oh no, the Darkstalkers! I completely forgot about them!" She looked at Ranma, "Let me go, Ranma. You two will need all the help you can get in fighting those demons! They're probably headed this way as we speak! Please let me go!

"Hmm… maybe so… heh, I think the two of us can deal with them, but first…" Ranma muttered, before smiling maniacally, "It was nice knowing you Lilith-chan, bye-bye!"

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!"

"I would not do that if I were you." A deep voice said from behind.

Dante quickly spun, leapt back, and immediately aimed his guns to the figures in front of him. One, two… thirty powerful, flying demons that looked like humanoid bees, plus the one in the middle, the one wearing the black trenchcoat, was hauntingly familiar. _'Wait a sec, black trenchcoat, metallic wings, dimensional hands…' _He took a side glance at the teen beside him and asked,"Friend of yours, Ranma?"

Ranma absently released his hold on Lilith and was now wide-eyed as he stared at the tall man in front of him in a mixture of shock and amazement, "Who in the world?"

"Master Jedah!" Lilith called out, breaking free from her binds and quickly flying up to the tall figure with a thankful smile.

Jedah ignored the succubus as he eyed Ranma curiously. "Very interesting, I never really believed that my only remaining family would be a human hybrid… hmm… and a powerful one at that." He turned his attention to Dante, "Hm, this is quite a pleasant surprise… one of Sparda's blood… a hybrid as well…"

Dante's eyebrow shot up as he asked, "Jedah? You mean to tell me that you're the one most demons I've come across feared?" he asked incredulously, "You certainly don't look like it." Truth be told, he really wanted to say that he could kick this demon's ass to hell and back with one hand tied behind his back.

"Ah, underestimating your fellow demon, that's something you should not do." Jedah replied with a chuckle. He turned back to Ranma and stared directly into his eyes, "Enough of that, I am truly sorry if my servant proved to be of such annoyance. I promise that she will be dealt with soon enough but at the moment, I have something to discuss with you, my descendant. Will you come with me to my castle? Of course you can come too, Sparda's son."

Ranma stared expressionlessly at the man in front of him, before shrugging his shoulders and walking towards the large group, not minding the fact that Lilith was practically shouting curses at him. Jedah raised an arm and muttered a few words before a pillar of light appeared above them.

Jedah frowned when he noticed that Dante just stood in place, and from the looks of it, he had no intention of joining them, "I see that you do not want to join us. That's a pity, but if that is your decision, so be it. A word of advice Sparda's son, never underestimate your opponents. The demons and humans in this place are much more powerful than those on Ningenkai and Makai… no matter what they look like."

Dante watched, as the entire group disappeared in a pillar of light, leaving him alone in that part of the realm, "Heh, that went well."

* * *

The group arrived inside Dohma Castle, Cathedral was more like it. It had beautifully carpeted floors, stained glass windows, and candlelight seemed to be the only thing lighting up the place. Jedah raised a hand and the drones quickly left the castle, leaving only him, Q-bee, Lilith and Ranma. The four walked up the stairs, with Q-bee and Jedah leading them while Ranma was not too far behind, and Lilith was flying behind the hybrid, a cute pout was on her face.

Lilith pouted when Ranma didn't react to her poke in the ribs. She doesn't know what to think about her situation. Part of her rejoiced that she was back in Majigen, where Jedah and Q-bee would surely protect her from harm, but another part of her wanted to at least be on good terms with a certain hybrid. She really couldn't explain it, but she guessed she'd grown fond of the young man. There was just something about him that made her regret keeping secrets from him. She guessed that Dante felt the same thing, only he was very frank to Ranma about everything since they met, which would explain the high amount of trust he easily got from the hybrid.

"Ne, Lilith…" Ranma whispered, catching the succubus' attention, "You said that your other half had the same aura as yours right?" Seeing a nod, Ranma continued, "Well, guess what? She's here, just about a few miles southwest of the castle. You should probably go to her right now because I think she's sleeping."

Lilith couldn't believe her ears. Had she heard him right? Morrigan was here in Majigen?! Wait… did he just kept his word after all that has happened? Why? "What did you say?" she whispered.

"I said she's here," Ranma muttered, looking at her over his shoulder, "Well, go to her already. That's what you always wanted, ne?"

"But… who brought her here?"

"I did of course," Jedah answered, eyeing Ranma a little more than Lilith, "I brought that succubus here because I never lied about helping you find her. I always keep my word, Lilith." Ranma could swear he heard some amusement in Jedah's voice as he finished.

The young succubus flinched. Yeah, rub it in, why don't you? Stupid link. "T-Thank you, Master…"

"I ask you to not go outside at the moment, for you'll surely be a prime target for the rest of the Darkstalkers roaming around, Demitri and those two Dark Hunters in particular." Jedah's face contorted in pain for a second, "Don't worry Lilith, I'm sure that succubus will make it to this place, after all, she is the master of the Aensland family." Another pause, another pained face, "I have to go. Lilith, show the young man around the castle for now, I'll speak to the two of you in a little while."

Ranma watched as Jedah and Q-bee went inside a large room. Weird, what was up with the faces? That bee was very concerned for his ancestor too, was he sick or something? Eh, like he cared. Besides, he had other things to do at the moment. "Well," he chuckled, turning to a shaky Lilith, "My ancestor told you to show me around so… let's go, shall we?"

"Yes…"

"By the way, are there any fire pits inside the castle?"

"Oh, shut up."

Inside Jedah's chambers, Q-bee looked at his master with sad eyes as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Master Jedah…" she whispered softly.

Jedah was wide-eyed as he went down on his knees and gasped for breath. His demonic heart was aching, which could only mean one thing, the miserable future of Makai that he had foreseen long ago was starting. He absently buried his fingers to the ground, breaking the hard concrete easily. Jedah spat out blue blood as he felt yet another pain in his heart, "I'm running out of time… I must assimilate it as soon as possible…"

* * *

Back in Makai, three days have passed since that horrible tragedy, and the armies of Mukuro and Raizen were now assembled together. Yomi surprisingly stepped down as one of the three rulers, saying that since his land, his home, and his people were gone, his title as ruler should disappear as well. He left Mukuro's domain and was now headed back to his land to think about certain things, the puzzling part of it all was that he was practically screaming for vengeance a few days ago.

Mukuro eyed her generals with a critical eye. They were nowhere near her level of power, but their experience and their techniques should shorten that gap a little. She twitched when she heard laughing from her side. _'Never underestimate him he says, look what he's doing right now… the idiot.'_

Where Mukuro was training her men, Raizen was quite the opposite. He was sharing a drink with his most powerful comrades, completely ignoring the looks they were getting from Mukuro's army as they drank. There was no need to measure his comrades' abilities. They were doing a good job in keeping their true powers hidden anyway so he guessed that the sneers and the disgusted looks his comrades were getting from Mukuro's army was a result of that. It wasn't like they cared about what they think, they were just weaklings in their eyes after all.

To be honest, he was more concerned about a certain, green-haired woman that had attached herself to his arm. She was called the drunken demoness, Koko. He sighed every now and then. Koko hadn't dropped her feelings for him even after all this time, even when she already married one of his comrades, the demonic powerhouse Enki. Enki was of no help, oh by the demon's hand, he was even the one that was doing the teasing. He sighed. He guessed some things never change.

"Raizen…"

Thank you, somebody did care. "Mukuro, is your army ready?"

"Ah! Who -hick- cares 'bout that?! Moko-chan! Long -hick- time no -hick- see!!!!" Koko yelled, releasing her hold on Raizen and yanking at Mukuro's arm instead. "Come on, have a -hick- drink for ol' times sake!"

"Eh? Koko, there is a war going on here. We don't have time for gaaaaameeessss!!!"

Raizen smirked. Some things really don't change, like Koko hugging and swinging Mukuro for all she's worth.

* * *

Yomi sighed sadly as he walked down the desolate road leading to the city ruins. Three days had passed but he still couldn't stop blaming himself for this tragedy. He had ignored the city defenses and concentrated on making powerful weapons for his army instead. Now, he had no more followers, and no more army, he had nothing.

He loved his people, but heh, he guessed he was 'blinded' with power. He wanted to have Makai all to himself, trying to justify himself by saying that he was doing it for his people, yet in his heart, he knew that they were the ones that were suffering every time his army clashed against Mukuro's or Raizen's army.

He chuckled mirthlessly as he arrived at the center of the city… the graveyard of his people. "You were right old friend… you were right…" he muttered, smiling sadly at the countless number of graves in front of him. His smiled turned into a frown when he sensed a lot of movement underneath him, "What in blazes?!"

Around fifteen to twenty Kamui golems rose from the graveyard, howling wildly when they saw the former ruler of the land. Yomi took a step back as he tried to sense their powers, only to come up with absolutely nothing. He snarled and snapped his head up, "How dare you desecrate the graves of my people?! Just what kind of abominations are you?!"

"Abominations you say? It is kind of ironic to hear a ruler of Makai say such things."

Yomi turned to his side and tried to sense the source of the dark voice. It was a woman, yes, but he could tell that this demoness was different from anything he had ever faced, and he knew that Raizen and Mukuro would say the same thing. "Show yourself, demon!!!"

The woman chuckled darkly, "As you wish."

A tall, dark-haired woman dressed in very revealing clothing came into view. Her eyes were blood-red and slitted, her ears were pointed, a horn was present on her forehead, and her face, her arms, and her long legs had the exact same mark as that of Ranma's. She pursed her lips as she looked down at Yomi in amusement, "Here I am, oh mighty ruler, how can I be of service?"

"Who are you?!"

"I am Fata-Morgana…" she answered, her amused look suddenly turned serious, "And you, my dear Yomi, are among the first ones to have known of our return to this wretched realm… and we can't have you telling Raizen and Mukuro about us, not yet," She turned around and snapped her fingers with a dark smile. "Kill him, my beautiful pets."

Almost instantly, the Kamui golems howled and rushed at Yomi with their appendages and massive arms. Yomi gritted his teeth as he went into his stance. His legs were spread, one hand palm up, the other was a closed fist near his waist. A youki barrier formed around him as he started to gather his own energy. '_I have nothing to live for… I might as well die fighting.'_

"Come on!!!"

* * *

Back in Ningenkai, Urameshi Yusuke walked out of the home of a former Reikai Tantei, Kuroko Sutou. He just found out that this woman was the partner of that bitch, if you could call it a partnership, Kuroko said that Nodoka was always diving into missions without her. She said that it was the main reason why Nodoka was raped. The woman simply didn't wait for her when the mission was given. He shrugged at that, guessed she simply had that one coming.

Be that as it may, he had other things on his mind right now, like these monks that were walking ahead of him. A youkai if he ever saw one, their stench alone reeked of human flesh. The puzzling part was that they didn't seem all that powerful, yet he had the impression that they were very confident that they could take him out if necessary… yeah right! "So, what do you guys really want? I'm sure that you didn't come here to just annoy me… you'd have to have a death wish for that one. So, spill it already."

The shortest of the three bald monks stepped forward, staring directly into the hybrid's eyes. "As I have already told you inside the house, Makai is currently at war against powerful soul stealers…"

"Get to the damn point already! What does this crap has to do with me?"

"My apologies, I have not introduced myself yet. I am Hokushin, and your ancestor, the Wargod Raizen, wants you to come to Makai as soon as possible."

* * *

"So… Mukuro sent this to you?"

"Yeah, that's the second one this week, and the second messenger I had to kill… it's getting rather annoying."

Kurama chuckled lightly. He guessed that Mukuro's messengers must really be such a nuisance for Hiei to just kill them like that. He was curious though. Hiei said that this message orb in his hand was for him, not for Hiei himself. Odd, never in a million years had he thought about getting the attention of one of the three rulers. What made it more puzzling was the way it was delivered. Hiei said that the messenger was freaked out, saying something about bees after him. Oh well, might as well see what the masked demon wants from him. He tossed the orb to a wall, instantly shattering it. A shadow quickly formed afterwards.

"Greetings, Youko Kurama. I am one of the three rulers of Makai, Mukuro. I assume that you are the one seeing this? I can never be too sure if Hiei was the one that delivered this to you. Hiei, if you are listening, I would guess that you had your fun in killing yet another one of my men?"

Kurama snickered.

Hiei just crossed his arms and muttered a 'hmph'.

"To the point, I ask that both you and Hiei come to my domain. Things have changed drastically in this realm during the past few days. Makai is now at war against thousands upon thousands of soul stealers, and we rulers need all the help we can get, we do not want to underestimate their power ever again. I truly believe that your powers would help our chances in fighting them.

Kurama, it is my understanding that you knew one of the rulers, the blind demon Yomi, correct? His land and his people were recently destroyed by these soul stealers, no one survived that massacre. Yomi was at my place at the time it happened so he was fortunate… if you could call it that. Well then, I believe I have said all that I needed to say, and I hope that you and Hiei would accept my invitation even under the direst of circumstances."

The shadow vanished, leaving a very silent Kurama and a frowning Hiei to ponder over her words. The two stood there for awhile, until Hiei scoffed and began to walk away.

"What are you going to do?"

Hiei looked at Kurama over his shoulder and smirked, "Heh."

* * *

Ranma and Lilith were inside the succubus' quarters, taking a breather after a few hours of roaming around the castle. At the moment, Ranma was sitting on an antique chair with a small pout while Lilith was messing with his long hair with a cheerful smile. You couldn't blame the girl though, when she asked if he held any grudges against her and if he really was going to drop her into that pit, he quickly said no and then he said to just forget it. Since then, he acted as if it never happened. She felt great after that, not because of what he said, it was because of the way he said it, pure, sweet, naïve innocence, that was the one she had grown fond off since they met.

Ranma shifted on his chair, "I know I already asked this a dozen times but what exactly are you doing again?"

"I'm tying your hair, silly." Lilith grinned, "I haven't told you this before but you look absolutely hideous with that hair style, that's why I'm doing your hair. Now, sit still! Just a few more seconds… there! All done!"

Blink. Blink. Blink. Blink. "What in the… pigtail? Why a pigtail? I don't want this! I look like an idiot with this thing!"

"Oh shush, I think you look good with it." Lilith gave him a peck on the cheek while wrapping her arms around his beautiful neck, "Oh, don't even try removing it, it's next to impossible. That string was made from my hair, so it will not loosen up unless I will it to, and threatening me about it will only strengthen its hold," she whispered into his ear.

Ranma simply sat there with a small scowl, completely ignoring anything and everything as he looked at himself through a mirror. Try as he might, he simply couldn't get it out of his head. He looked like a wuss, a weakling, and a pushover with this stupid pigtail. And he can't remove it?! He sure wished that Dante was here so that somebody would just shoot him in the head and put him out of his misery. It was odd though, he was feeling really good rather than the opposite. Why was that… the hell?!

Lilith, still behind the pigtailed teen, was gently kissing Ranma on the side of his neck as her hands slowly glided around his chest. Ranma tried to resist her advances, but he found out that his body was almost numb, plus he himself felt like giving into his own lust, he was even on the verge of moaning for crying out loud! Just how long had she been kissing him? Curse that succubus lust effect… can't… control…

Ranma found himself locked in a deep, passionate kiss with the succubus. What surprised them both was that Ranma was the one that pulled Lilith in for a kiss instead of the other way around. Well, it wasn't like either one cared about such things anymore.

Lilith smiled, broke the kiss and gently placed a finger on his lips. She stared lustfully at Ranma as she sat on his lap. Her smiled widened when Ranma's energy-induced clothes vanished, replacing it with just his regular clothes which comprised of a tattered black leather jacket, loose dark blue shirt, black pants and shoes. She quickly removed his jacket then she practically ripped open his shirt.

She looked up and smiled when she heard him moan softly. He wasn't resisting it anymore, this should be fun! Lilith gave off a mischievous giggle, playtime was over! That was what she wanted to say, but when she caught sight of a certain, tall figure standing on the side, she quickly placed those thoughts down the drain. "Master Jedah!!!"

Jedah smiled with his arms crossed as the two frantically tried to gather themselves. "Did I come at a bad time? Shall I come back later?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

"No, that's not necessary, Master Jedah," Lilith quickly answered, straightening herself up. What she really wanted to say was, _'Really great timing, master...'_

Ranma on the other hand, gave his ancestor a very thankful look, but he quickly hid it before anyone else saw it, namely Lilith. He looked down and sighed, well, so much for his normal clothes. He closed his eyes, summoning his energy-induced clothes and dusting them off slightly when he was able to move freely again. "Is it time for our talk?"__

"Yes, if you would follow me to my chambers please."

* * *

Q-bee blinked when a smirking Jedah and two madly blushing demons entered the master chambers. "Okay… what happened?"

"Nothing happened!"

"Mind your own business, Q-bee!"

Jedah laughed while Q-bee had a much more puzzled look than before, then, the master of the castle coughed to get their attention. "Ranma, was it? I can see that for a hybrid, you are quite powerful. I can also tell that you had your fair share of assimilation. Straight to the point… that is why I am asking you to join us, join me in my mission to save the realm of Makai. I am quite sure that with our combined assimilation powers, the task at hand will be fairly easy."

Lilith glanced nervously at the teen. _'Bloodlust… his bloodlust is growing!'_

Jedah frowned, Q-bee flew behind her master and eyed the teen warily, and Lilith slowly inched away from Ranma when he suddenly started laughing like a madman. Energy swirled around him, and his territorial red blobs appeared all over the room. He snapped his head and glared fiercely at Jedah.

"You seem to be forgetting something," Ranma started, hands glowing with Sei Kou Ki, "I hate my father and the rest of the Dohma family just as much as I hate my mother, in short, I hate you…"

Lilith slapped her head. That stupid idiot! Saying that to Jedah was just like committing suicide! Oh my, a scowl was already present on Q-bee's face, and she looked like she was more than willing to call in around a hundred drones to mutilate the teen for that uncouth response. The only thing keeping Q-bee from doing so was Jedah himself. He was chuckling softly, and a real smile was on his face instead of the sick and twisted one he usually had. _'Now that I thought about it, Ranma had similar habits before… it must run in the family.'_

"You truly are a puzzle," the former ruler started, "If I didn't know better, I think that you have multiple personalities but… seeing that your aura never changes, that theory's definitely out of the question."

"Heh, my brother was the one with personality problems, though I really don't see any problems with them, they were all nice to me."

Jedah chuckled, "I see… well then, since you do not want to help us achieve our goal, I would assume that you want to return to Makai?"

Ranma smiled, held up a hand, and laughed maniacally once more, "You didn't let me finish, ancestor," he sneered the last part out, "Yes, I do hate you and your family… but… I am not blind. I can see that you can help me with a few things as well. Heheh, to put it simply, you want my power, I want something in return."

"Hmm… and what, may I ask, might that be?"

"I'll help you in whatever plans you have in mind…" Ranma's smile turned into a cold one, "In return… I want you, and your army to help me destroy Ningenkai."

* * *

****

****

**AN:** I actually had this one done long before chapter 5 but the file got lost so I had to write it up again from scratch, sorry about that. Just a filler really that focused on the 'meeting' of the toughest Darkstalkers and the introduction of the temptress, Fata-Morgana. Next one is where the story moves on. Well, till next, Ja!

**Next: Evil Realm Majigen II: Assimilation of Makai**

_Morrigan smiled, "My, my, this is interesting, a fellow succubus for an opponent…"_

_"The name's Lilith… and you have something that belongs to me, my goody-goody sister."_


	8. Evil Realm Majigen II: Assimilation of M...

_A Ranma ½ / Yu Yu Hakusho / Sakura Wars / Inu Yasha / Darkstalkers / Devil May Cry / Multi-crossover_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ranma ½ and Yu Yu Hakusho or any other anime/game titles for that matter. Though I sometimes wish I was a class-S youkai…heh.

-----

"Oh? Interesting proposal indeed…" Jedah mused, "I suppose that it is acceptable… however, can I know the reason as to why you would take such rather direct actions against the human race, fully knowing that you would have to deal with the forces of Reikai first?"

Ranma had a distant look as he gazed outside, "I just don't think that they deserve to live after all the things that they have done in the past… and the things that they will do in the future. Don't get me wrong, I have quite a number of human friends in the past, but I fear that they too, shall be influenced by other humans in the future…"

Jedah's curiosity was really piqued now, "Care to elaborate?"

"Black List Tape… a compilation of humanity's sins throughout the years…" Ranma said with clenched fists, "It also shows the sins of the humans against defenseless, harmless demons…"

Q-bee and Jedah understood immediately as they nodded seriously, though there was a look of disappointment on Jedah's part that did not go unnoticed. Lilith on the other hand, just stared dumbly at the pigtailed boy. She had absolutely no idea what he meant by that last part, but she knew, from the look on his face, he was dead serious about destroying Ningenkai and possibly Reikai, should they interfere.

"I see where you're getting at, and I am beginning to understand you a lot more now that you have explained your side. However the decision would have to come from Q-bee, not me, it is her tribe after all."

Ranma looked stoically at the hovering Q-bee, who was looking back at him with a sad smile before giving off an affirmative, though hesitant buzz. Lilith simply watched the interchange with a much more confused look.

Jedah went back to his calm facade, "That settles it then. Once you help me in assimilating an extremely powerful energy source, we will then help you in your mission to destroy Ningenkai."

-----

**_Dark Ascension_**

_By Insane Blight_

**The Evil Realm Majigen II: Assimilation of Makai**

* * *

Fata-Morgana walked down the huge tunnel created by the Kamui golems underneath Yomi's domain. "What imbeciles, they were the ones doing the desecrating when they build their city above the resting place of two of Makai's most powerful treasures."

She smiled when she arrived and spotted a set of gigantic metal doors at the end. She still can't believe that it had remained untouched after all these years. She moaned as she slowly and gracefully lifted her arms up high, which was followed by several dark swirling mass of energy, then, the temptress began to sing. A short hymn, beautiful yet deadly, the crumbling, magically sealed, gigantic metal door in front of her was proof of that.

Brushing her hair to the side, she casually stepped inside with a smile, where a huge crypt was kept enshrined. The one she first laid eyes on were the two caskets directly in front of her. Like the metal doors, she could sense that a powerful seal was placed on them, and she knew exactly who, or rather what were sealed inside those caskets. She then focused her attention on the stairs leading to a small altar, she almost hurled when she gazed at the glowing, black cross hanging on the wall in front of the altar, "Ugh, I hate religious types. Hmph, it's a good thing they're sealed for all eternity."

Slowly, she worked her way through the crypt, taking care so as not to disturb something that wasn't on her plan, specifically the sealed caskets. She sighed in relief when she finally reached the top of the stairs, where she could see that an oddly-shaped sword was lying on the altar. Grabbing the sword with practiced ease, she lifted it up and stared at it in total admiration, "Legendary Sword Kisin… ah it's been so long since I last saw this blade," she paused when she noticed that there was only one sword on the altar instead of two, "What? Where is the other Legendary Sword? The Legendary Sword Spa…"

She tensed up when the casket behind her suddenly exploded to pieces. Impossible, they were sealed for eternity, weren't they? Her eyes narrowed when a Kamui head rolled to her side, but a small smile surprisingly came to her lips, getting the Legendary Swords was going to be a lot more interesting than she first thought.

* * *

Back in Reikai, Botan sighed in relief when she finally got out of Enma-Daioh's chambers. Koenma better thank her for this! Speaking to Enma-Daioh on his behalf was NOT an easy thing to do, especially when Enma-Daioh's anger was building up with each passing day. Oh, she could just imagine the amount of paperwork Koenma would have to go through when he returned.

It was a good thing she had been hanging out with Yukina these past few days, or else she would've personally dragged Mr. Pretty Boy to Reikai by now. She knew that Koenma was doing this act of defiance to protest about his father's order of killing Yusuke simply because of his demonic heritage, but she also knew that Enma-Daioh was just doing what he thought was best for Ningenkai, no matter how painful it was to the parties involved. Family problems seemed to be the only thing going around these days, a certain ex-tantei and her demonic child to be precise.

Botan absently rubbed the bruise on her hand, wincing involuntarily when she remembered a crazed Nodoka throwing that lamp towards her and Ayame. Bad enough Nodoka was too strong for her own good, but she also charged that darn lamp with reiki, thus the bruise on her hand. Well, it wasn't like she didn't deserve it, she was the one who accidentally blabbered Ranma's name in front of Nodoka, making the ex-tantei lose it like that.

Shaking her head, she turned around and was about to fly back to Ningenkai when she noticed something odd going on to her side. She blinked twice and had to rub her eyes several times when she saw dust clouds, mounds and mounds of dust clouds that were coming her way at high speed. Narrowing her eyes, Botan tried to look past the dust clouds and blinked again when the one causing those clouds was Koenma's slave, er, assistant, Jorge, whom she now knew was headed for Enma-Daioh's private chambers.

"Wait up Jorge!" Botan shouted, yanking at his shirt, thus forcing him to stop in his tracks, "What's the rush? Don't tell me Koenma sent you here to beg to his father too?" she joked, but she froze when she saw the panicked look in his eyes.

"M-M-M-Meikai… Meikai is active again!!!"

* * *

Somewhere in Majigen, Dante was having the time of his life. He couldn't remember when was the last time he was having so much fun in fighting someone, especially a demon. He jumped up, and then thrust his sword downward, sending arcs of electricity around him as it struck the ground, but his attack was proven to be ineffective when his adversary just charged right through it, sending him flying back with a hard shoulder tackle.

"Awooooo!"

The Devil Hunter snarled as he flipped back up, damn that werewolf was strong! He smirked as he charged right back at his opponent with his fists instead of his sword.

Talbain was also having the time of his life in fighting the Devil Hunter. They had met just after he had regained consciousness, and surprisingly, the Devil Hunter did not attack him at all, saying that he had no intention on challenging those who were in no condition to fight. As much as he wanted to prove him wrong, his body simply didn't agree with him. It was quite understandable though, he had just barely escaped from that crazy red-hooded girl, what the hell was she doing with a friggin' rocket launcher anyway?!

In any case, they pretty much talked for hours, mostly about their past experiences. By the time his wounds healed up, neither one had the heart to fight the other with the intent to kill, so instead, they agreed to fight the other to test their abilities and limitations, a sparring match of sorts.

The werewolf blocked Dante's intended uppercut, but the force the Hunter placed on it was so much that it sent him off his feet. He backflipped and landed in a crouching position before tackling Dante with his shoulder once more. This time however, the Devil Hunter blocked his attack and countered it by grabbing and mashing his face to the floor. He growled and swiftly kicked Dante on the face, forcing him to let go of his hold. Both fighters leapt back, smiling as they eyed each other, this was going to be one long fight!

* * *

"Are you okay now?"

"Thank you Felicia, I do feel a little better now."

Felicia and Morrigan were walking towards the now visible Dohma Castle. Morrigan couldn't stand up on her own yet though, so she had an arm wrapped around her friend's neck for support. The succubus was silent for the most part, wondering what might have caused her to pass out like that. She knew it was that annoyance in her head, but it never did that to her before, could that mean that the source of the voice was near? If it was, then she couldn't wait to meet this nuisance and perhaps end its pestering once and for all.

Her thoughts were cut short when she noticed that a dark, though familiar figure was blocking their way. Felicia hissed loudly, revealing her fangs and her claws as she looked at the man while Morrigan simply cursed out loud, of all the time in the world, he just had to show up when she couldn't even defend herself. She looked up at the figure with a glare and snarled, "Demitri…"

Dark aura flared around the vampire lord as he walked towards the two women with an evil smirk, "I've been waiting quite a long time for this day, my dear Morrigan Aensland. Hard to get is really a tiresome game, and it really doesn't suit higher nobles such as ourselves." He stopped walking and simply stared lustfully at the succubus, "This time, you will not escape… this time… I shall make you mine."

* * *

"Huh? Is that you damphy?" _'Shoot… some competition…'_

Donovan and Lei-Lei looked to the side and saw Bulleta, in her 'innocent mode'. Lei-Lei just looked curiously at the red-hooded girl, trying to figure out where she had met her. Donovan however, tensed up. He and Bulleta never really got along with each other as fellow Dark Hunters, but that was mostly because of his cursed demon blood, that girl simply hates demons with a passion, be they half-breeds or full blood.

Unlike him and Lei-Lei, Bulleta mostly did her job for the money. The red-hooded girl thrived on killing Darkstalkers for several rich clients like that shady businessman Sakyo, and perhaps for her own sick pleasure. The other thing that made him very uncomfortable around her was her obsession with firearms. Yes, the Hunter's Guild required all Dark Hunters to have a weapon of their choice but Bulleta took it to heart. That girl had quite a collection, all of her guns were customized to her liking, and he could tell that she was carrying a few of her favorites inside her basket right now.

"Bulleta, you were sent here too?"

"Duh! What do you think damphy?"

Donovan remained unfazed, "From the blood on your clothes and on your face, I see that you have encountered and killed a few Darkstalkers already."

Bulleta blinked, before clasping her hands together and smiling sweetly, "Oh my, yes, I already have quite a collection of body parts and insides to sell to the clients! I'll be filthy, stinkin' rich when we get back to Ningenkai! A girl has to make a living you know!"

"IF we get back to Ningenkai," Donovan said, trying to hide his disgust when she mentioned body parts.

"What do you mean by that, damphy?"

"Bulleta, stop and think for a moment. Do you know what place this is or where it is located? I know for a fact that we are not in Ningenkai anymore and I most certainly know that this is not Makai either. Do you have any idea how to get back home?"

"Damn," Bulleta muttered, she never thought of that. "Okay… do you have any ideas, Donovan?"

Donovan smiled slightly, he knew that she was serious now, calling him by his name was proof of that, and about time too. "Whoever sent us here made a huge mistake by leaving his energy signature…" he trailed off.

The red-hooded girl smiled evilly, "In other words, you can track him down."

"Yes."

Bulleta pouted for a moment, rubbed her temples, and gave off a frustrated sigh, "Alright. Even though I don't like you, I have no choice but to work with you to track down this moron so I can go home and collect my bounty."

The damphir sighed back, "That's all I ask."

* * *

"Lilith may have told you this already, but I'll explain it again just to be sure. We are in Majigen, my very own realm created right in the center of the dormant volcano, Gilala Gila. I made the dimension inside the volcano because of two things. One, no demon ever comes to Gilala Gila, unless they want to commit suicide, so basically it became the perfect hideaway until I have gained enough strength to do my mission. And two, it was because of the three secret Gates it had inside of it…"

Ranma looked at his ancestor curiously, "Gates?"

Jedah didn't answer him, instead, he held up a hand and a portal suddenly appeared in front of them. He motioned for his descendant to join him before stepping into the swirling mass of energy. Muttering a few choice words, the pigtailed boy sighed and reluctantly followed his ancestor into the portal. He blinked when he suddenly found himself looking down at hot lava.

"Over here, Ranma," Jedah said from the side, motioning for his descendant to join him.

Ranma shrugged and flew towards his ancestor, but he stopped and hovered in midair when he noticed three dimensional tunnels, dimensional tunnels that looked a lot like the Makai tunnel in Irima Cave.

"These are the three secret Gates of Makai. From what my servant has told me, you came from the dimensional tunnel that Reikai sealed long ago, correct?" Jedah smiled when Ranma nodded dumbly. "It's very similar to that, but these dimensional Gates are only known to a select few, not even Reikai know of their existence."

"That's great and all but where do these tunnels lead? Don't tell me they all lead to Ningenkai, because that won't make any sense."

Jedah chuckled, "Quite so, quite so. To answer your questions, the left tunnel leads to Ningenkai, the right tunnel leads to a quick death because it leads to Meikai. It is a quick death because that realm has been destroyed so many years ago, so you'll actually feel like you're in Limbo when you use that tunnel."

The pigtailed boy laughed, "You make it sound like you actually tried it yourself!" His laughter died when Jedah just looked back at him with that emotionless mask. He turned serious, then continued. "So… where does the last one lead to?"

"…I honestly have no idea."

"What?"

Jedah sighed, "This middle tunnel has been a mystery ever since these tunnels were discovered thousands of years ago. We higher nobles sent numerous servants into the tunnel but they never returned. When they stepped into that tunnel, it was like their entire existence vanished, never to be heard from ever again. As the years go by, most of us just thought of it as a convenient way of getting rid of nuisances."

Both went silent for a long while, until Ranma asked, "What do these Gates have to do with your intended energy assimilation though?"

"I'm glad you brought it up. You see, my former confidant, Ozom, discovered that these three Gates hold a tremendous amount of power, so much power that it surpasses the dimensional tunnel you went through tenfold. I can see that you have a lot of questions to ask, but hear me out first. My untimely death hundreds of years ago was due to Ozom's betrayal.

My plan was to gain enough power to rid the realm of Berial Aensland and Galnan Voshtal. Selfish reasons, don't you think? Yes, of course, most people saw it that way, but what they didn't know was that those two were keeping quite a number of dangerous secrets inside their castles. Fortunately, I accidentally stumbled upon some of those secrets, but it was already too late. Aensland and Voshtal's mistakes were beginning to consume the realm of Makai, and it was up to me to stop it for those two became considerably ill a few days after my discovery.

My confidant at the time, Ozom, suggested that I try to assimilate the energy from the dimensional tunnel that you used to get here. It seemed to be the most logical solution at the time, gather a large amount of power and then use it to seal those dark secrets forever. It should have worked, but Ozom's greed got the better of him. He wanted my position, he wanted to be a ruler of Makai so he secretly placed a seal around the tunnel and it will be activated once I begin my assimilation of the tunnel.

I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. I trusted him so much that I never even thought of him betraying me. I had no chance of escaping once I entered that tunnel, but as luck would have it, Ozom didn't seem to know my true strength, that's why I was still able to assimilate just enough energy so I could reconstruct myself after I die…"

Ranma blinked, "Reconstruct?"

Jedah smiled at him, "One of our family's abilities, though I highly doubt that you have such an ability considering your human side. Anyway, here," he said as he held up a hand and Ranma could clearly see that his ancestor's skin was made of liquid, much to his shock. "My body is made up of liquid, like most of the Dohma family. I have the ability to regenerate even when my body is destroyed in some way. After several years, I was able to pull myself back together… literally. Once I had recovered, I sought out Ozom, but it turned out that he received the same illness that plagued both Berial and Galnan and he died shortly thereafter."

The pigtailed hybrid frowned, "What happened to the secrets that you were taking about? You didn't seal them so what happened to them?"

"That one… I read it from Galnan's old journal. He, along with Berial, was planning on sealing those mistakes from the past, even at the cost of their lives. They must've succeeded because I could not feel their presence anymore. However, it was only temporary, for each day that passes, I would sense a small, barely noticeable dark energy seeping out of the seal, and that was when I knew I had to continue my plan… and here we are now…"

Once again, silence ensued, both lost in their own thoughts. The two remained that way until Jedah sighed, turned around, and was headed back to the portal.

Ranma took one last look at the three dimensional tunnels before turning and following his ancestor, "By the way, I couldn't help but notice the disappointed look you gave me when I told you about the Black List Tape. Can I know the reason that led to that kind of reaction?"

Jedah froze in midstep, looked up with a sigh, and closed his eyes, "I have only one thing to say to you in regards to that, my descendant, you may choose to heed it or not," he began, gazing intently at his hand, "There is no such thing as good or evil in this trivial world. Those you say such things are nothing more than fools, fools who are doomed for all eternity for betraying the truth."

Before Ranma could even respond, the ground began to shake violently, forcing the lava to flow out of the center. The pigtailed boy was soon struck by several large rocks from behind, sending him crashing down to the ground and burying him in them while Jedah snapped his head up as he clutched his demonic chest in pain.

"Grr… the three rulers…" he said through gritted teeth.

* * *

Mukuro thrust her hand forward, signaling another wave of attack, "Fire!!!"

Another barrage of cannon blasts and energy bursts rained down on the dormant volcano, virtually leveling the exterior of the volcano, as well as its surrounding area when the blasts hit. That was as far as they could go when thousands of bee drones flew out of the mouth of the volcano and swooped in for their counterattack of soul energy bursts, instantly killing hundreds of demons in Mukuro's army.

However, Mukuro had already anticipated this, so she held up her arm and her dimensional prison appeared into plain view, a circular prison that surrounded the entire dormant volcano Gilala Gila, trapping the bee drones inside of it. She couldn't help but smile cruelly when the most of the drones simply tried to push right through it, her cruel smile widened when the drones did manage to get out of the prison, but in several little pieces.

Her moment of triumph was suddenly put to a crashing halt when her barrier surprisingly shattered, pretty much knocking most of her army off their feet from the shockwave it produced. She snapped her head up and saw the former ruler looking down on them with a very intimidating glare. She involuntarily took a step back but she quickly composed herself. Glancing to her side, she looked at one of her generals and growled out, "Shigure! Take his head off!!!"

Shigure smirked, crouching low and drawing back his arm, along with his weapon, "Heh, with pleasure!"

With Shigure throwing the circular weapon at exceptional speed, Jedah didn't know what hit him. It did work, but not the way Mukuro and Shigure wanted. The weapon was buried into Jedah's chest, nearly splitting him in two, but there was a twisted smile on the former ruler's face that sent shivers down the spines of Mukuro's army, and it was for a very damn good reason too.

"Heeeeeeeeeeehaahaahaahaahaaahaaahaaaaa!!!" he laughed as he pulled the weapon out of his body. He then smirked when he noticed the shocked look on Mukuro's face when his body immediately regenerated. Gazing at the weapon in his hand, he smirked evilly and charged it with an insane amount of youki, right before throwing it back at Mukuro's army. Jedah gave Mukuro one last twisted smile before going back inside the volcano.

Next thing Mukuro knew, screams of her men rang through the entire area, as the dark-powered circular blade homed in on all of them in an attempt to cut them in half either by cutting their heads off or their torsos. Either way, it was clear that it will not stop until it kills all those who opposed the former ruler.

"Shigure, Kiri! Stop that weapon! The rest of you, keep attacking Gilala Gila! Let's finish these Soul Stealers once and for all!!!"

* * *

Jedah snarled as he deflected several energy blasts that managed to get inside the volcano. The portal to Majigen was still there so Q-bee managed to get out of the dimensional realm and fly to her master's side.

_'At this rate, all three dimensional tunnels will be destroyed…' _"Of all the possible times… O-bee! Spread them all out! We don't stand a chance if that woman uses that dimensional prison again!"

Q-bee nodded hurriedly, "Yes, at once."

Outside Gilala Gila, Raizen smirked as he crushed the skulls of a pair of bee drones with his bare hands. He was frowning inwardly though. Like Mukuro's, his army was already suffering a lot of casualties yet the Soul Bee tribe was still unrelenting in their attacks, their numbers were simply too great. Plus add the fact that they seemed to be a lot more organized than ever before, their usage of complicated battle tactics being the prime example, he guessed it was because Dohma was the one in charge of them now.

He leapt up and blasted hundreds of drones with a huge energy blast, quickly turning them to dust. His attack continued until he felt a very familiar pain stab him in the stomach. He landed roughly on the ground and gritted his teeth in frustration as he clutched his stomach, not now, he didn't need this right now! Still grimacing in pain, he could only watch in dismay when more than a hundred drones were now making their way towards him. He wanted to shake his head and smile, heh… oh this was just great, death by bee stings.

"You ain't gonna lay yer hands on my Raizen!" Koko yelled, clapping her hands once and torching the bees from the flames that came out of it.

Now that the Wargod thought about it, dying by bee stings did indeed sound like a good idea.

Jedah gazed at his hands as he stood in front of the dimensional gates. With Mukuro's recent wave of attack, his descendant's unconscious form was unfortunately thrown back into the portal to Majigen right before it closed up, leaving only him and Q-bee inside the volcano. He could open another one, but what was the point in doing so? Ranma was still knocked out from those hard blows to the head, and time goes by slowly in Majigen. Besides, it wasn't like the three Gates could hold up for that much longer, not with the intensity behind the enemy attacks.

He sighed when he sensed the humanoid bee hover behind him, "Q-bee, order your army for one last bombardment of energy blasts, then retreat. Get out of Gilala Gila. Go back to your old home… I will not trouble your tribe ever again…"

The former ruler froze when Q-bee wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. He closed his eyes and gently held her hands when she buried her face on his back, as she slowly shook her head no. Irony truly was everywhere in this world. He once thought of her and her entire tribe as mere pawns in a game of life and death, but now, he cared for them as much as he cared for the family he had lost so many years ago.

_'…So be it… I have no choice… I have to assimilate it as soon as possible, even if I have to do it by myself.'_

* * *

"Come on, baby…"

Morrigan barely escaped Demitri's grasp as she took to the air. She and Demitri were slowly nearing Dohma Castle as they fought. Correction, Demitri fought, Morrigan just ran. Could you even blame her? Her head was still taking quite a pounding from that annoying voice, and her body was still weak from her lapse earlier, she couldn't even fly straight at the moment. She was lucky that Felicia was there to help her fight this arrogant vampire lord or else she would've fallen prey to him by now.

After a few more minutes dodging fireballs, Morrigan and Felicia finally arrived at the front door of Dohma Castle. They were lucky to make it this far, but alas, it had to come to an end, as Demitri was finally able to connect with one of his energy blasts, only it was Felicia who took the brunt of the attack. The cat-woman screamed as she was thrown back, crashing through the main door and through several walls inside the castle as well.

"Felicia!"

Demitri glided in front of the succubus, catching her off-guard, "Hm hm hm, now there are no more nuisances," he said with a smirk as he forcefully grabbed the weakened succubus by the arms, preventing any means of escape. He leaned in and opened his mouth to reveal his fangs, fangs that were more than ready to suck Morrigan's blood, "Now you're mine…"

Just then, a faint, mischievous giggle resonated within the castle walls, "Sleep, you pathetic vampire."

Demitri didn't know what hit him, as he suddenly found himself losing consciousness after feeling a sharp pain on his back. He was forced to release his hold on Morrigan as he slowly spun around to look at his attacker. He gritted his teeth from the pain on his back, but it was mostly because of his surprise when he finally got a good look at his attacker, it was but a mere purple-haired girl. "A child…? A child did this… to me…?" he muttered before falling to the ground, unconscious.

Lilith smiled smugly at Demitri's prone form and she even kicked him in the groin for good measure before turning and gazing at the person she had been searching for, her other half, Morrigan Aensland.

Morrigan frowned when she saw the glare Lilith was giving her. On the inside though, she was smiling widely because the voice in her head suddenly vanished and her strength was retuning to her. It didn't take her long to figure out that this little succubus in front of her was the one responsible for it. To put it simply, Lilith was basically the nuisance in her life. "From the look on your face… it would appear that you didn't come here to save me from that obsessed vampire after all." She shook her head and smiled, "My, this is truly interesting, a fellow succubus for an opponent."

"The name's Lilith… and you have something that belongs to me, my goody-goody sister."

* * *

Felicia grimaced in pain when she finally regained consciousness. She opened her eyes and gasped loudly when she found herself staring at a shiny little Uzi, "W-what?"

"You sleepy, you poor baby? Do you need one of my patented wake-up shots? Hee hee!"

"Bulleta, stop it, you very well know that she is an ally of the Hunters Guild. Do you want to make the Council mad? You could lose your membership… not to mention your personal belongings…" Donovan trailed off.

Bulleta twitched, before turning around and letting off a frustrated cry, "Damn it! Can't a girl shoot someone in cold blood anymore?!"

Felicia sighed in relief when the red-hooded girl placed her weapon inside the basket. She looked up and was even more relieved to see both Donovan and Lei-Lei, "You guys were sent here too? I thought that it was just me and… oh no… Morri-chan!" she yelled.

Donovan gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "She is fine Felicia. She is currently attending to some personal business as we speak," he replied cryptically.

Speaking of which…

"Soul Fist!"

"Soul Flash!"

Two soul energy attacks cancelled each other out, although it was quite clear that Lilith was tiring faster than her counterpart. Morrigan rushed in and slashed the younger succubus with her wings, sending her crashing down. Lilith forced herself back up, only to fall back on her knees as she bowed her head and gasped for breath. Morrigan smiled and dived down, thinking of delivering the final and decisive blow. What she didn't know was that the purple-haired girl had a knowing smile on her face as she patiently awaited her descent.

"Take this!"

"Ha ha! You fell for it!"

Just like Ranma's, Lilith's clothes disappeared and morphed into smaller bat familiars, leaving her naked as she jumped up and met her sister head-on.

Morrigan screamed as the seemingly endless number of energy-charged bats began to tear into her skin. Lilith finished off the attack with one large soul energy blast that struck Morrigan on her stomach, throwing her back from the force behind it and forcing her to go right through a concrete wall.

Lilith was about to go after her counterpart when she suddenly screamed as her body felt like it was being ripped in two. She looked down and her eyes widened in shock when she saw that her hands, along with her entire body, were becoming transparent, just like the entire Dohma Castle. "No! Majigen is collapsing! Master Jedah is dying… no! Not yet! Not when I'm so close!!!"

* * *

Ranma groaned as he started to come to. Being repeatedly struck by falling large stones AND extremely powerful wayward energy blasts was not a very nice thing to experience. He struggled to get back up to his feet, but when he did, he blinked when he saw a group of people looking at him with varied reactions.

One was a man who looked like a priest or a monk, especially with those beads. He was looking at him in the same manner as his ancestor, calm and composed. Beside the monk was a Chinese girl that had light blue skin, but the most noticeable part was the large metal claws she was wearing. The last one made him raise an inquisitive eyebrow, it was a girl who was doing a cheap imitation of the little red riding hood, complete with a basket and… a dog? What made it cheap was the fact that the girl had a crazed, downright maniacal look as she looked back at him.

He was about to ask who they were when another unfamiliar face walked into view, a certain someone that completely caught Ranma's complete and undivided attention. He took a small step forward, making the group tense up for an expected attack. However, they were not, in any way, shape or form, prepared for the pigtailed boy's real reaction…

"Neko-chan, kawaii!!!!!!" Ranma squealed, rushing towards the cat-woman.

Felicia blinked, "Miya?"

**Glomp!**

"Wha? Wha? Wha?"

* * *

Jedah flew in front of the three gates, his eyes cold and hard, but blood was trickling down his mouth. He screamed and placed his hands to his side as he began to assimilate the dimensional tunnels, sending huge streaks of energy around the area and causing one large earthquake that affected most of the realm.

Q-bee didn't just stand around though. She was using her soul stealing ability as a means to boost her master's strength. She was using all her remaining strength in absorbing the souls of the deceased demons outside and then channeling it to Jedah for his assimilation of the three Gates. In short, the more demons die from the war, the more powerful Jedah became.

She took a second to glance at her master and gasped, "M-Master! Maybe we should stop!"

Blood spilled everywhere as Jedah was slowly but surely being ripped apart by the tremendous force of the Gates. However, it did not deter the former ruler at all. Instead, he became even more determined each time his body would receive yet another injury, even though his wounds were not regenerating like before. "I have to do this, Q-bee… I already told you about the frightening power… of the scourges… I simply… cannot… allow them to… destroy Makai…"

Q-bee was on the verge of crying when she reluctantly nodded and resumed feeding her master with souls.

_'Makai… I have to save… Makai…'_

* * *

****

**AN: **Psycho Ranma loves cats, always has, always will. Why does he love them so much? It will be explained next chappie but I'm sure some of you could guess it already. Anyway, the Majigen arc will come to a close nest chapter, and all I can say is that the results of the war will be devastating to all parties involved. Well, till next, Ja!

**Next: Evil Realm Majigen III: In His Footsteps**


	9. Evil Realm Majigen III: In His Footsteps

_A Ranma ½ / Yu Yu Hakusho / Sakura Wars / Inu Yasha / Darkstalkers / Devil May Cry / Multi-crossover_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ranma ½ and Yu Yu Hakusho or any other anime/game titles for that matter. Though I sometimes wish I was a class-S youkai…heh.

-----

"Master…" Q-bee whispered.

Jedah bled anew, but this time, he had a small smile on his lips. It was working! And from the looks of it, it seemed that he really could assimilate such a large amount of power all by himself. Granted that he could sense the destruction of several major lands in Makai and there was still a risk of him losing his life, but it was a small price to pay for the safety of the people, his people, even if they do not know it.

Seeing the smile on her master's lips, Q-bee began to focus more on gathering souls for Jedah. Her drones had just informed her that they were winning the war outside, and she couldn't be happier. They were winning against those interlopers and it also looked like they were going to succeed in saving the realm, no, their home, as well.

Fate had a different agenda it seemed, as a large blast of youki suddenly darted past both Q-bee and Jedah and struck the middle Gate, immediately causing it to send streams of energy around the volcanic center.

Jedah looked on, eyes wide, as a couple more extremely powerful blasts of youki struck the three Gates. He gritted his teeth. No, if these dimensional tunnels collapse, then their one and only chance at saving Makai would go down with it. The tunnel that Reikai monitored simply wouldn't do anymore since it didn't have the energy it used to have. That was why he fell to his knees when he sensed that the three dimensional tunnels almost instantly began to shift time and space inside each one of them, signifying their destruction. "No… no… it's gone… the power… it's gone…"

Q-bee, as well as several drones that were inside the volcano, also fell to their knees. It was gone, just like that. It was destroyed before their master could even use its power to completely seal it off. They could only bow their heads in dismay, fully knowing what awaited them now that their only hope was destroyed right before their eyes.

"Dohma!" a certain Wargod called out as he and his comrades landed inside the dormant volcano, just a few feet behind the former ruler and his army.

Jedah's body began to tremble as he chuckled softly. It was then followed by a large rumbling on the ground as several geysers of lava suddenly burst out of it. "You ruined it… heheheh… ahahahah… you just doomed us all… ahahaha…" He looked at Raizen over his shoulder and the Wargod had to suppress the urge to step back when the former ruler had a maniacal look in his eyes, a sick, twisted, sadistic smile on his lips, and a mixture of blue and red blood was pouring out of his body, "It's all over… all I can do now is to rid the realm of idiotic, meddlesome people such as you!"

-----

**_Dark Ascension_**

_By Insane Blight_

**The Evil Realm Majigen III: In His Footsteps**

* * *

Bulleta smirked, cocking her gun and turning towards the damphir. "Well damphy? Can I at least kill this… whatever the hell this boy is supposed to be?" '_I bet I could get a lot of money on those wings of his… oohh, I want to kill him! I want to blow him up to itty bitty pieces! What weapon shall I use though, a Rocket Launcher, Flamethrower, or, hee hee, my personal favorite, the spirit powered Gatling gun?'_

Donovan didn't answer her. Instead, he looked at the boy rather intently as he sat comfortably on Felicia's lap and purred happily, much like a cat, which was extremely odd because the boy did not look like he was from the male cat race, not with those marks and those folded metallic wings. Felicia seemed to share the same thoughts but he could tell that the cat-woman felt a small sense of joy when Ranma began talking 'cat' to her, a language that only those from the cat race could understand, at least until now.

Lei-Lei crouched in front of the 'two' cat people, but not before addressing the red-hooded girl, "Ms. Bulleta, he doesn't look dangerous to me, please don't be too rash on your decisions." Ignoring the scowl on Bulleta's face, she turned back to the two and smiled, "What is he saying, Ms. Felicia?"

Felicia smiled slightly, patting the pigtailed boy on the head, much to his delight. "He said that his name is Ranma, and he also said that he's very happy to see someone like me," there was a hint of sadness when she finished.

Donovan remained stoic as he asked, "Why exactly is that? You know and I know that he is not from the cat race, hybrid or no, so where exactly did he learn to speak in your tongue?"

"He was 'taught' by a couple of people. He's acting like a cat because he went through a horrible demonic torture that greatly affected his mentality, and he learned to speak in our tongue because he was taught by someone, a woman…" she paused, noticing Ranma's sudden change of expression, "A woman whom he liked very much… and a woman who used him in so many ways," she shuddered at the end, remembering the exact words that came out of the pigtailed boy's mouth. Nobody deserved going through such an ordeal.

The damphir merely nodded as he kept looking at the pigtailed boy. First of all, he did not even sense his presence until the last minute. How was that possible? His ki reading abilities, along with his vampiric senses, were among the best on Ningenkai, and he did not even notice him?

Fortunately, something clicked in his mind just then. Yes, he did have prior experience with such things, his encounter with the cosmic being Pyron. Pyron had an ability called teleportation, which meant that it was as he first suspected, they were in another realm altogether. _'This boy does bear a semblance to the aura of the person I'm looking for, a relative maybe… what in the… no, the legendary Sei Kou Ki? He can use it?'_

Ranma was having the time of his life. Lilith told him that there were cat people in Makai but he didn't quite believe her back then, but now… wow! He could even talk in their tongue! His time with that kind and mean lady really did pay off! He purred happily, rubbing his cheek against Felicia's. _'What a nice lady, and she's looks cute when she smiles too!'_

A loud crash that came from the north wall snapped the group out of their thoughts. Bulleta's evil grin finally returned to her face, well, well, it was none other than Wolfy, and he brought someone else too!

"Damn, my back…" Dante muttered, as he tried to get up. He tried to smile when he saw the kid, who was sitting on a woman's lap?! Didn't know the kid had it in him. He wondered if a certain blonde would let him do that to her, ah, he'd ask her later, right now he had to kick someone's ass.

"Grr…" Talbain growled, having already recovered and was now glaring at the wall they went through.

A familiar set of appendages appeared into view, causing Ranma's eyes to widen. Four Kamui golems barged into the room, completely destroying the north wall.

Donovan's eyes widened when he couldn't sense any sort of power from the four golems. "What kind of demonic creatures are they?"

Talbain wiped some blood off his mouth, "If you really want to know, they're the Darkstalkers Anakaris, that zombie fellow, that Frankenstein creation, and that merman Rikuo… at least they used to be. We saw them change into these killing machines a little while ago."

"Kamui…" Ranma whispered, catching everyone's attention, "They're Kamui golems… a 'friend' of mine said that they're indestructible monstrosities, though I really don't want to believe that."

"I agree with you on that one, kid." Dante said, drawing his sword Alastor from its strap. "Question is… how in god's name did they get here?"

Bulleta interrupted as she grinned maniacally, "Ah, who the hell cares?! Just blast them all to hell!" She quickly grabbed a couple of grenades in her basket, charged them with reiki, and threw them to the four monsters before raising her basket and aiming it to the golems. She laughed as she blasted one of them with a barrage of rocket attacks.

For once, the Dark Hunters and the Darkstalkers were in full agreement with each other as they charged at the Kamui golems, though they did not immediately notice that the castle walls, the whole castle for that matter, were vastly disappearing, no one noticed except for the two cat people.

Ranma hissed when an image of a person suddenly appeared in front of him for a brief moment. He hopped out of Felicia's lap, stood up, and glared at the man that was slowly coming into view right in front of him, "Raizen…"

* * *

Lilith wandered aimlessly around the vastly disappearing Dohma Castle, gasping for breath at every opportunity. Her memories were fading, slowly but surely they were fading, she could barely even remember the time when Berial spilt her powers in three. Morrigan had disappeared, and that only made her even more frustrated for she knew that once Majigen collapses, she would only have a few moments before she vanishes as well. She snarled at that, "Morrigan! Come out you inferior succubus! Come out and show yourself!"

"Fire!"

The young and weakened succubus was blasted through the wall and into a large room by Demitri's energy blast. She tried to get up, but her strength was almost gone. Behind her, she could feel that Demitri was slowly looming over her prone form, before hearing him chuckle darkly. She cursed silently as tears formed around her eyes. She knew she would be killed by this vampire and there was nothing she could do about it. Just then, an image flashed through her mind, an image of a psychotic boy innocently smiling at her. _'W-Why am I thinking about him now?'_

"I'll take pleasure in making you scream in my dungeon forever…" _'Why does she have Aensland's aura?'_

"I-I'd pass, v-vampire," Lilith sneered, forming an energy orb around her hand. "I'd rather die than be nothing more than a toy for your sick pleasures!" Before she could even blast herself, an energy projectile struck her hand, burning it, and making her energy orb disappear completely. "Who…?"

Morrigan hovered above the two demons, arms crossed. She frowned as she eyed Demitri, but she smiled slyly when she turned to look at Lilith. "Now, now, where's the fun in killing yourself? At least let me taste you first, I'm sure I can make you change your mind."

"Oh, I'm sure you can…" Lilith chuckled dryly, her transparent body trembling from exhaustion. _'I hate myself.'_

Demitri snarled and flew up, trying to grab the playful succubus, which Morrigan nimbly dodged with a mischievous smile. After a few minutes of playing 'tag', the vampire lord growled in frustration. He held up both arms as he went into his real demonic form, where several bat familiars quickly formed and gathered themselves around his body. With unrivaled speed, he got in front of Morrigan and kicked her on the stomach, forcing her to hunch over.

That was just the beginning of a vicious assault. As Morrigan hunched over, Demitri drove his elbow to her spine, the vampire lord smiled when he heard sounds of bones breaking. He continued by driving his knee to her face, followed by a hard slap to her face that sent her crashing down to the stairs. He hovered above Morrigan's prone form, gathered energy through his hands, and aimed it at her. He was about to launch his attack when, to his shock, the downed succubus vanished in front of his eyes.

"Tsk, tsk, illusion… oh dear, falling for the same trick again? Sigh, you leave me no choice… I'll finish this little game of ours right now, vampire."

Demitri quickly spun around, and he was promptly hit with a lot of small energy blasts that left him dazed, but that was more than enough time for Morrigan to veer up and morph her bat wings into a weapon.

"Our time together was quite enjoyable, till you began to bore me. Farewell, Maximov, and take this shower as a gift," Morrigan said with a smile as she heard a whirring sound just before energy blasts shot out of her morphed bat wings at high speed, hitting the vampire lord several times in the face, the stomach, and most importantly, the demonic heart. This time, her energy blasts did not just struck Demitri though, this time, her blasts actually went right through him.

The vampire lord had numerous holes on his body, and blood was pouring out of it at an alarming rate, but to Morrigan's surprise, Demitri actually smiled a bloody smile before charging forward and grabbing her neck. "If I can't have you, I'll take you to hell with me!" he yelled as he started to drain her life force.

Struggling to get out of Demitri's hold, Morrigan tried to pry the vampire's hands away from her neck but to no avail. The vampire lord laughed maniacally as he continued draining her energy, but something went horribly wrong midway. His wounds pulsated, right before they exploded, forcing him to release his hold on the succubus. They exploded, one after the other, eliciting anguished scream after scream from Demitri. Finally, he screamed one last time as a massive explosion finished him off.

_'I-I was wondering when it would start working…' _Lilith thought with a small, albeit tired, smile. She frowned when Morrigan fell back and then dropped to the ground in a crash. Slowly, she began to crawl towards her other half, ignoring the pain in her body. She stopped however, when her body was again struck with an unbearable amount of pain as Majigen finally collapsed. Lilith's body immediately began to fade away, but that only strengthened her resolve as she continued to desperately reach for her other half.

"My… body…!"

* * *

"Raizen…" Ranma growled out as Majigen collapsed, sending them to the not-so-dormant volcano Gilala Gila.

Jedah and Raizen were at a stalemate. However, it was clear to everyone that watched the two earlier that Jedah would've trashed the Wargod in seconds had he chose not to fight Raizen's comrades. Said comrades lay on the ground, some were heavily wounded, most were in critical, but Q-bee was knocked out too, and all the drones inside the volcano had been killed.

Ranma clenched his fists. That demon's aura was the same as Urameshi's and there he was, standing in front of him, his brother's murderer, and he simply couldn't control himself, as anger and hatred was consuming his very being. He did not waste a second longer. He quickly rushed forward and punched Raizen on the face, breaking Jedah and the Wargod's deadlock. He then grabbed Raizen's throat with one hand while his other hand repeatedly punched the Wargod on the stomach, drawing out a stifled gasp each and every time.

Jedah watched as Ranma unremittingly attacked the Wargod Raizen with such intense ferocity. He thought about helping the boy in killing Raizen once and for all but something else caught his attention. To the side, he was treated to the sight of both the Dark Hunters and Darkstalkers desperately fighting the four abominations. Just seeing it made him bow his head in defeat.

"Kamui… the first sign…" Jedah whispered with a forlorn look. He looked up and smiled sadly when the color of the sky was fiery red. That was when he knew it was over. Not that it would matter for long, his injuries were catching up to him, and soon, even though with a heavy heart, he would finally be able to rest for eternity. He turned to look at his descendant and couldn't help but look at him in pity. A one of a kind soul, so pure yet so corrupted. He shook his head, that child would end up destroying himself one day.

The former ruler closed his eyes and was glad that at least Q-bee's army was winning the battle outside, though he feared that their victory would be for naught as Berial and Voshtal's mistakes had almost been set free. With his eyes still closed, he fell back to the ground on his back, a sad smile on his bloodstained lips. Over… it was all over…

* * *

Raizen countered by punching Ranma's throat, immediately forcing him to release the hold as he clutched his throat and coughed out blood. Both demons jumped back and glared at each other as they tried to gather themselves.

"Cursed Child…"

"Bastard…"

The pigtailed demon rushed back at him and threw a few punches and kicks that Raizen blocked quite easily, though he the Wargod was wincing the whole time, but it was for a different reason. "Why do you call me that?! Why am I a cursed child?! Is it because I'm a half-breed?! A lowly demon with disgusting human blood?!"

Raizen smirked, catching Ranma's fist with one hand, "You should ask your ancestors." Seeing Ranma turn his gaze to Jedah, he chuckled slightly, "I mean your human ancestors. Find out as much as you can about them, then you'll know why I call you a cursed child."

Ranma jumped back, a little stunned at Raizen's words, before snarling and charging at him once again. This time, he had a smile on his face as he did a feint punch to the Wargod's face, only to hit him in the stomach instead. Ranma's smile turned into a downright maniacal one when Raizen screamed out loud. "This is for my brother!!!"

"Gah!!"

The pigtailed boy buried his youki-covered fist deeper into Raizen's stomach, not minding that the ruler was throwing up huge amounts of blood the more he did that. Snarling loudly, Raizen responded by driving his fingers into the boy's stomach, before making a slashing motion upwards that completely tore through both Ranma's flesh and armor from the stomach up to his chest, leaving him a bloody mess as he fell back.

Ranma was wide-eyed, but he instinctively summoned his scythe and managed to slash Raizen as he fell back, slashing him from the left side of his stomach to the upper right side of his chest in a slanting pattern, leaving him a bloody mess as well. Both demons fell down to the ground, both demons severely wounded…

Just then a large demon came into view. He looked at Ranma with a mixture of anger and respect before turning towards Raizen. He carefully lifted the Wargod up as he whispered, "I got you old friend… I got you." Enki then turned to his still able comrades, "Tell Raizen and Mukuro's army to fallback! We are retreating right now! What are you waiting for? Move it!"

* * *

Dante pointed his arm to the four Kamui golems as black ooze wrapped around it and formed a familiar weapon. Focusing all his energy into the weapon, he launched four bluish blasts that relentlessly attacked the four golems. Donovan and Talbain knew what Dante was thinking so they helped in pushing back the golems to the lava pits, with Talbain using his Fire Dragon Cannon and Donovan using his spirit blizzard.

The three could only do so much as the golems regenerated, but luckily, Bulleta was there and she just gave the word overkill a whole new meaning. She jumped onto one of them and began shoving rocket after rocket to its head. While the hole she created hadn't regenerated yet, she dropped around ten grenades into the hole and jumped back, shooting the golem's body with her Uzi before it exploded to pieces.

The red-hooded girl then went for the next one. She pulled out a dagger and charged it with reiki as she easily slashed the second Kamui's arms and legs, much to the shock and awe of the rest. Then, she leapt up and stabbed the Kamui right between the eyes, laughing hysterically as she was splashed by its blood. She pulled the dagger out and shoved the tip of her Uzi to the open wound and began to literally blast its brains out.

Dante whistled, being the first one to recover from shock. "Remind me never to get on her bad side…"

"She's a monster…" Talbain muttered.

Donovan just shook his head. He'll never understand what goes inside the mind of that hunter. To his side, she saw that Lei-Lei and Felicia were shaking in fear. The two must've sensed the dark power Bulleta was using along with her reiki, a power that could easily make low level demons cower in fear.

Bulleta jumped off the second and onto the third. This time, she used her bare hands as she punched right through the Kamui's head, gripping some of its insides with her hand. She then charged her dagger with more reiki and it suddenly became longer as the reiki provided the extra length. She jumped back and laughed in delight as she slashed the third one in two, though she frowned when she noticed that the others were just standing on the side, "Well, what are you dimwits waiting for?! Do I have to do everything myself?! Throw them to the lava pits, now!"

The forth and last Kamui took this opportunity to swat Bulleta to the far side, slamming her into a wall. She may have unbelievable powers but she was still human, thus the blow knocked her out. Kamui turned its gaze to the rest of the group and crouched slightly, right before a swirl of energy began to form in front of its chest.

Dante's eyes widened. "Everybody take cover!"

Everybody did just that as a large beam of energy shot out of Kamui's chest, destroying everything in sight. It never hit anyone of them, until Felicia's foot got stuck in an opening on the ground. Felicia looked on as Kamui focused solely on her. Snapping her eyes shut, she awaited her death that never came. She hesitantly opened her eyes and gasped when she saw that a certain pigtailed boy stood in between her and the energy beam. "Ranma?! No! Get away!"

Ranma screamed as he sent the blast back to the golem, creating a hole through its chest but the backlash threw the pigtailed boy far back, roughly skidding to the ground. Coughing up blood, Ranma awkwardly got up, but he found himself being lifted in the air. He looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened when he saw the unstable middle vortex was the one doing it as it quickly pulled him inside before he could even react.

"Ranma!"

"Kid!"

* * *

Dante was about to go after Ranma but he was held off by both Lei-Lei and Talbain. "Let me go! Let me go dammit! Talbain… let me go or else I'll put a bullet in your furry head!"

"Can't you see it?! It's shifting the space in front of it like a miniature black hole! And who knows where that tunnel leads to now?! You'd die before you could even find him!" the werewolf reasoned as he gripped Dante's shoulder.

After a few more minutes, the Devil Hunter reluctantly backed down. Since then, he simply stared at the middle tunnel, until he noticed some movement to his side. It was that woman, a succubus, but, he was sure that Lilith was lying next to her when he saw them a little earlier so where was she? Great, he already saw one kid disappear, now this one seemed to vanish as well. _'Well, there was only one way to find out,'_ he thought as he walked towards the woman.

"You," Dante began, shoving his gun to the side of Morrigan's head, "What happened to the little girl that was lying next to you earlier? Did you kill her?"

"Don't call me a little girl," Morrigan muttered angrily, before blinking and shaking her head, "I don't know where she is, and would you mind pointing that infernal contraption somewhere else? I'm not exactly in the mood to fight gung-ho Dark Hunters such as yourself."

The ground shook a lot more violently than ever before, all of them falling down hard from losing their balance.

Talbain took a look at their situation, it was not good. "We have to get out of here! This volcano could blow up at any second!" he yelled to the others.

Donovan nodded, carrying an unconscious Bulleta by the arms while Lei-Lei began destroying a section of the volcano wall with her weapons, Talbain assisted her as well. Felicia snapped out of her shock as she went over to Morrigan and immediately supported her friend and the two joined the group in making their own exit.

Dante however, stared at the middle vortex again. He stayed that way until he smiled slightly. He took a step forward but stopped when he saw that Talbain was blocking his way.

"Weren't you listening? I told you before… it's dangerous to go after that child, you may lose your life in doing-"

"Try and fucking stop me," Dante snarled, pointing his guns to all the Darkstalker. He then pointed them to the rest as he slowly walked towards the middle dimensional tunnel. _'Kid, you owe me big time for this,' _he thought as he holstered his guns and jumped into the vortex.

Morrigan looked on as the Devil Hunter vanished completely. For a minute there, she had an odd gleam in her eyes that almost made her want to go after the two hybrids, but it quickly disappeared when Felicia began to wonder what was wrong. "It's nothing Felicia… nothing at all…"

* * *

__

_'Cold… so cold…' _Ranma thought with a shudder as he drifted aimlessly inside the tunnel. Still, it wasn't so bad, as his old home was a lot colder than this place. He was wounded pretty badly, but it was worth saving that lady. Though now he guessed that without any souls to assimilate, and without anyone to help him, he could very well lose his life inside this tunnel. Well, at least he wasn't alone. Now he knew why the demons they sent in here never came back, the skeletal remains all around him was the clincher.

Just then, a bright light appeared out of nowhere, and he just cursed out loud as he was pulled into yet another vortex, maybe it was the end of the tunnel, then again, maybe it wasn't. Either way, he had no choice but to sit back, enjoy the painful ride, and hope for the best…

* * *

Back inside Gilala Gila, Q-bee and Jedah were right in the middle of the place, surrounded by lava and the four regenerated Kamui golems. Jedah was lying down, his head rested on Q-bee's lap while Q-bee just looked at her one and only master with a small, sad smile. She had ordered her victorious army to go back to their old home, select a new queen, and prepare for the coming disaster. She only hoped that they would succeed in defeating it.

"Q-bee…" Jedah muttered, his eyes still closed, "I… thank you…"

Q-bee bowed her head as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. When Jedah whispered a few more words, his final words, she finally gave in to her emotions. Tears flowed freely from her eyes as she hugged her master tightly, not only for the loss of someone she truly loved, but also for oncoming plague that would surely wipe out the demons of Makai if they were not stopped.

"I pray that they could defeat them…" she whispered as she eyed the Kamui golems, before looking at Jedah with a smile, "Master… let's go… together…"

A huge wave of lava suddenly came out from behind them. Q-bee smiled and closed her eyes as the lava wave swallowed the two of them whole, finally ending their lives, their suffering.

Donovan and the rest tensed up when Jedah's last words resonated throughout the entire volcano.

**"With my demise… the seal has finally been broken… and Makai… no… the three realms… have just been sentenced to death…"**

* * *

"U-Ugh…" Ranma groaned a little, his body shuddering involuntarily. His body felt like it was encased in ice, just like that one time with that woman. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that he was lying beside a small lake and judging from the trees all around him, he was near a lake in the middle of a forest of whatever realm he ended up on.

Sitting up, he quickly spat out blood and the wound he received from Raizen bled at an alarming pace. Quickly placing his hand in front of his chest, he immediately tried to close the wound with the remaining power he had left. It worked, but he knew it wouldn't last for long. He had to find something to treat it soon or else he'd join his brother in the after life. Come to think of it, that was okay too, but he didn't know if Itsuki would be around or not when he died. Like his brother, he refused to go to Reikai and be judged by those idiots.

Shaking his head, he willed himself to stand up and start searching for people. Be they demon, animal, or whatever, he didn't care, he just needed something to assimilate and fast. After a few minutes of wandering, that line of thought was quickly put to an end when he found an opening that led him outside the forest. His eyes widened when he saw a town… a city… a familiar tower… just a few miles north…

"This is… Tokyo…" he whispered. That would mean he was in Ningenkai, but how? Did the tunnel do this? But wasn't the left one supposed to be the one that had the way to Ningenkai? How did this happen? He clutched his head, he was close to fainting, his wound was deep and could prove fatal if he didn't take care of it immediately, he had lost a large amount of blood, and he had no one to ask for help, the humans from the city included.

Still, he had to find someone to treat this, or like his earlier thought, he could just assimilate a few human souls, but he was afraid of the damage it might bring to his already injured body. Truth be told, he felt a sharp pain in his heart when Lilith provided him with a human soul to assimilate that one time, it was simply unbearable and he wasn't sure if he could stand a number of those. He shook his head, he had to try something.

Focusing his senses for a minute, he gave off a sigh of relief when he sensed that Dr. Kamiya was somewhere in the city. Good, The Doctor could heal him in no time, but first off… he needed some 'human' clothes. Though it pained him to do this, he willed his wings to go inside his body and then he morphed his energy-induced clothes into a plain black shirt, loose black pants and matching shoes. His black energy shirt should hide his wound if it bleeds again, and he hoped that he had enough energy to go to where Kamiya was located.

* * *

Ranma cursed Raizen for the thousandth time. He had made it into the city, but he could barely stand up, hell, he needed to lean on the walls for support. The people around him were all looking at him, and he was trying so hard to not kill them all and consume their souls. He was tempted, he was very tempted to do so, but he quickly reminded himself of his past experience in assimilating human souls.

A few minutes passed, he was literally dragging his feet now, he was gasping for breath, and his vision was becoming a little blurry. That was when he heard someone calling him, asking him if he was alright. Heh, he didn't know that humans still cared for each other. He chuckled slightly, looked up, and went on to see who this person was.

"Excuse me, are you alright young man?" a woman asked.

"Don't worry about me, I'm…" Ranma stopped in mid-sentence as he literally froze on the spot when he got a good look at the woman. Auburn hair, traditional kimono, and a sword wrapped in a bundle. "Mom…" he mumbled out in shock as he looked at the woman in front of him.

Nodoka's eyes widened when she heard him say that. She looked at him wide-eyed as she hesitantly asked, "R-Ranma…? I-Is it really y-y-you?" she asked, her voice full of longing.

The hybrid looked at her oddly then he slowly nodded his head, quite perturbed at her unusual reaction.

"Ranma…! Oh, my son! I missed you! I missed you so much, my manly, manly son!" she said through tears of joy as she hugged him tightly, causing his injuries to bleed anew.

Ranma's vision blurred as he found himself on the verge of losing consciousness. He shook his head, desperately trying to make sense of what was going on, then, the shock of seeing his mother act like this finally caught up with him. It was simply too much. He fainted in his mother's arms, and his last thoughts were…

_'What the hell is going on?'_

* * *

****

**AN:** Eheheh, yup, Majin Ranma was transported to the original Ranma world, and he just met that world's 'Oh-my-son-is-so-manly' Nodoka. Anyway, canon Ranma takes place a few weeks before the Saotome's and the Tendo's go to the beach, the volume where Genma and Ranma will visit the Saotome family grave. Well, till next.

Ugh, right now, my internet access is limited this week, I have a headache, I have a fever, and I have to sleep… Ja…

**Next: Otherworldly Reunion I: Mother and Son**


	10. Otherworldly Reunion I: Mother and Son

_A Ranma ½ / Yu Yu Hakusho / Sakura Wars / Inu Yasha / Darkstalkers / Devil May Cry / Multi-crossover_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ranma ½ and Yu Yu Hakusho or any other anime/game titles for that matter. Though I sometimes wish I was a class-S youkai…heh.

-----

Fata-Morgana glared at the white-haired man standing just a few feet in front of her. She was chained to a wall, hands, feet, legs, you name it. She was even gagged, that man must've known about her abilities as a dark songstress. What pissed her off the most was that this demon now had control over her Kamui parasites, and of course, all of the Kamui golems around the realm. How he did that, maybe she'd never now…

She looked to her side and glared even more when the giant snake warrior was still staring intently at her. It was a huge snake demon, who had a height of at least a ten storey building, had armor around its gigantic body, and it even had a gigantic sword and shield on its hands. That white-haired demon said that this was his guardian, and guardian was right. The raw power this snake demon was producing was simply astounding.

It didn't take her long to figure out just who the white-haired demon was. The Legendary Sword Kisin responded to that man's call the minute he ordered it to come to him. Since the Legendary Swords were named after their masters, this demon must be one of the two Legendary Devils, Kisin.

Fata-Morgana snapped out of her thoughts when Kisin began to say something in a strange tongue, seconds before a large gate ominously opened in front of them. Her eyes widened in horror at what she saw.

-----

**_Dark Ascension_**

_By Insane Blight_

**Otherworldly Reunion I: Mother and Son**

* * *

Blurry, blurry, his vision was blurry. Nothing, he could see nothing, but he did hear someone call his name, telling him to hang on. A voice of someone so familiar, but at the same time, it wasn't…

The next time he opened his still blurry eyes, he saw several people in white lab coats talking about an operation, then, he heard that voice again, that soft, caring voice before everything went black…

The third time it happened, a woman immediately came into view. He couldn't quite see her face, but he knew that she was yelling something as she frantically shook him, something about living, and then… nothing…

The fourth time he regained consciousness, he saw the same woman through blurry eyes. She was listening to a nurse about something, and then he heard her squeal of joy as she quickly grabbed said nurse in a hug before running up to him and telling him he was going to be alright…

_'Ugh… how many times do I have to go through this?' _Ranma thought as he regained consciousness for who knows how many times. He tiredly opened his eyes and was glad that at least he could see better, but he wasn't glad that the first thing he saw was the bane of his life, the cause of his painful childhood, one of the reasons for his never-ending hatred for humans and the like, his mother, Nodoka Saotome. Groaning once, he instinctively asked the one thing he thought was appropriate in this kind of situation.

"......... Am I in hell?"

Nodoka blinked twice, before smiling at her son, "No, of course not dear. You're in our house."

"......... Is there difference?"

Nodoka frowned, and then placed a hand on Ranma's forehead. "I was sure the doctors said that your delirium has subsided, maybe I need to call them again." She smiled as she leaned in and gave her sick child a light peck on the forehead, "Rest for now son, we'll talk tomorrow morning, alright?"

Blinking for the tenth time, Ranma watched as his 'mother' gave him one last joyous smile before going outside and closing the door. A moment later, he coughed slightly as he said, "That was… cough… odd…"

* * *

Ranma sat up from his futon, suppressing another cough so as not to get that woman's attention. He looked down and for the first time, he noticed that his energy-induced clothes were gone, he had several bandages wrapped around his chest and stomach, and he was wearing… brrr… white pants. He shuddered a bit. These things really weren't his type of clothing, spending time with his brother's multiple personalities gave him a dislike for such things. _'Sigh, my clothes must've vanished when I lost consciousness.'_

Shaking his head, he looked down again and snorted at the bandages. He felt that they had operated on him, stitched him up pretty good too, but his wound won't fully heal by any normal means, that much he knew. His wounds were made by Raizen's unusual ability, applying a frightening amount of Dark Force on his physical attack so his opponent won't completely heal up by any normal means.

Dark Force, Itsuki told him about it, but he never thought he'd see it in person much less experience it first hand. Only a handful of demons had such ability, it enhances your strengths for a short period of time. Heh, it was so much like a human territory except for one thing, its power surpasses that of the territories quite easily. Ranma smiled slightly as he shook his head. Fortunately, there wasn't anything normal about his assimilation abilities, so he hoped that assimilating demonic souls would do the trick.

"Well, time to get healed up," he muttered as he got up with a wince, slowly made his way to the bedroom window, and silently opened it. Concentrating for a moment, he summoned his metallic wings, along with his black coat energy-induced clothing. Concentrating once more, he sighed a little in relief when he sensed that his 'mother' was already fast asleep. He flapped his wings once and proceeded to fly out of the house, time for some demon hunting.

Ranma looked back at the house for a second before shaking his head. If he found something powerful to assimilate, he won't be coming back there again, especially since that woman was freaking him out with the whole change of attitude bit, was that really his mother back there? Was she the woman that was always by his side each time he woke up?

He'll worry about it later. Right now, he had to find a few demons…

Considering this was Ningenkai, his options were rather limited. He expected that Reikai would've sealed the Makai door by now, so Mushiyori City was definitely out of the question. Hmm, where else, Juuban maybe? Nah, his brother said that the demons there were nothing more than pests. It probably would take him forever to fully recover if he went demon hunting there. Well, there was always Yohko-chan, she was a nice demon hunter, but he really hated her family. It was a good thing Yohko-chan was always there with him or else he'd have ripped her family's heads off back then.

"Hmm… that leaves me with," he paused when he sensed something, something he needed so badly, an extremely powerful aura that was moving very fast just east of where he was at. He snapped out of it and quickly went after the source. "This is it, if I could assimilate something that powerful, then I can leave this hellish realm and go back to Makai."

After a while of playing catch-up, Ranma cursed silently when the presence seemingly winked out of existence. He flew down and cursed again, how did he lose it? How did it completely hide its presence from him? Where did it go off to? Looking up, he saw a shrine not too far from where he was at. "There's no way I'm going in there, shrines are definitely not for someone like me."

Sighing, he flapped his wings and flew up. Well, it didn't turn out like he hoped, and dawn would be coming soon. Damn, his wound was acting up, and he really had no strength to go anywhere except for that woman's house. As much as he hated it, he had to go back there and get some rest, no matter how weird his mother was acting. Well, if she did try anything, he'd just crush her soul anyway. No, wait… first he'd rip her heart out, shove it down her throat, then he'd crush her soul.

* * *

However, when morning came…

"Say ah…"

Hiding his disgust with an innocent smile, Ranma timidly opened his mouth as Nodoka continued to spoon-feed him. This was hell. It was quite unnerving seeing this weird side of his mother. So far, from chatting with this Nodoka, he deduced that he somehow wound up in an alternate world, and he was unconscious for about five days now. Well, for one thing, she clearly stated that he had been gone for only ten years, but he remembered that it was eleven years before he met and tried to kill his mother again.

Next, he finally took note of this Nodoka's spiritual powers, they were low, and he did mean low. The potential was still there, but as far as he could tell, it had not been used, period. It looked like she wasn't recruited by Koenma in this world. Lastly, as much as he didn't want to believe it, this Nodoka carried with her an innocence that was similar to his. With his abilities and his experience regarding these things, he could easily tell if she was lying or not, and as much as he hated to admit it, he knew that this Nodoka hadn't lied to him ever since he woke up.

But the biggest question going on in his mind was… where was this Nodoka's real son? Where was the Ranma of this world? Hmm, dead maybe? Maybe Genma accidentally killed him? So many possibilities, most of which would definitely lead to his alternate's painful demise.__

"Son?" Nodoka called out.

Ranma blinked, before being startled upon seeing Nodoka's worried face. "Ah, uh, what is it… um… mom?" he asked with an innocent smile.

"I asked what could have caused your injuries… they looked a lot like claw marks," Nodoka said, eyeing her son's bandages with a concerned look.

Great… well, he could just say that he fought a demon and barely made it out alive or he could play along for a little while longer. Ah, what the hell. "Ahaha… well… I saved a beautiful lady from being attacked by a… bear! Yeah, that's it! A couple of bears!" Part of it was true, he did save that nice cat lady from one of the Kamui golems, and he was attacked by Raizen which could easily be counted as an animal attack.

Seeing Nodoka rush up to him, Ranma snarled, his eyes turned demonic as he quickly held up a hand behind Nodoka's head, ready to kill her for that unexpected attack. His dimensional fingers were inches away from tearing a hole into the woman's head when Nodoka suddenly began to sob on his shoulder. After a few seconds of being frozen in shock, he looked down and his demonic look disappeared somewhat at the sight of his mother hugging him around the waist as she cried. He removed his hand from behind Nodoka's head as he hesitantly asked, "What's the matter mom?"

Nodoka sobbed a little more before shaking her head, "It's nothing, I'm just glad that you're safe… I'm just glad that you're alive and here with me…"

Ranma raised an eyebrow as he stared impassively at the woman's sobbing face. He stayed that way for a little while until he frowned and slowly began to turn away from the sight.__

* * *

The rest of the day was spent mostly in silence, neither mother nor son could say anything to each other, though Ranma had a smile most of the time in contrast to the small frown that Nodoka always had whenever she was not with her son. The only time they had a nice long conversation was during their dinner, when Nodoka asked about Genma's whereabouts.

Ranma didn't need to lie to Nodoka because, to be honest, he found it quite fun telling her the entire truth about his past in his home world. He told her that Genma was shot to death when two men saw that he was dropping him into a pit of starving cats, not caring about his safety or his sanity at all. He was quite impressed with the deep anger and hatred this Nodoka was producing after telling her that story, but it was still too weak compared to his real mother.

One thing that surprised him was her rather quick dismissal of the subject, which was Genma's death. On the outside, it would appear that she really didn't seem to care as to whether or not the bastard was dead, with the small curses she kept muttering under her breath, but an observant person would eventually notice the distant look Nodoka's eyes had after hearing the news.

The pigtailed boy inwardly smirked. Even with the anger she was currently producing, he could tell that this Nodoka still cared for that fat bastard, something his real mother would never, ever do. He didn't even think his real mother was capable of caring for a person, much less love them. In any case, he loved being the bearer of bad news, even if it wasn't true in this world. Seeing his mother, his alternate's mother, have mixed emotions regarding that man was truly a joy to see.

Though he held a small, very small, guilt at what he said when he heard a few muffled sobs inside Nodoka's room later that night. He held that guilt for around… oh, three seconds before shrugging the whole thing off with a dark chuckle.

* * *

The hybrid flew out of the house for the second night in a row. Like before, he looked over his shoulder and glanced back at the house. Shaking his head, he went on to search for a vacant spot to try something out. After searching for quite awhile, hours to be exact, he decided to go to the place where he first woke up, the small clearing in the forest with the lake. Sure enough, it was vacant, and he sensed that no one had come to this place since he was teleported here.

"Well, let's get started…" he mumbled as he started to carve something on the ground with his dimensional fingers. He let out a chuckle as he said, "If I can't find powerful demons in this world, I'll just summon them. Itsuki-niichan said that the level depends on the caster's current strength, I wonder if I'm strong enough to summon a few powerful ones."

A few moments later, blue light emanated from the ground in the form of some kind of ancient writing that no human could possibly understand. Ranma stared at it for a second before he began chanting in a strange dialect.

"…Kazbiel… Ophis… Camael… Daeva…" were the only words that he said aloud, the rest were too faint to hear. Gusts of wind soon swirled around his body as a pentagram appeared underneath him. It wasn't long until a portal opened up in front of him, making him smile as he chanted the last few words of the spell. He immediately readied himself as he took a defensive stance, expecting that someone or something was going to come out of the swirling black mass.

The portal didn't disappoint.

Around fifteen menacing, winged demons jumped out of the portal as it began to close. Ranma wasted no time in getting acquainted with these high level demons. He quickly killed and assimilated the souls of five of the demons before they could even land, but the remaining ten proved to be a lot harder to deal with. Most of them flew up and attacked the pigtailed boy with long range blasts while the rest were a little more direct, bashing Ranma on the head with the enormous physical strength from their bulky arms.

It was indeed a smart move to assimilate a few of them before they even got the chance to defend themselves or else Ranma would be dead by now because he would not have the energy to create a barrier around himself. The creatures' blows proved ineffective as Ranma's barrier easily repelled them back, giving the pigtailed boy just enough time to kill the ones on the ground before jumping back to avoid the blasts from the winged demons above.

He flew up and sliced a couple of demons in two, absorbing their souls as he did so. He then went for the rest as soon as he felt that his wounds closed up to an extent. When he got to the last demon though, something happened. He elbowed the demon on the head, stunning it a little as it went down, then he held a palm to the creature's direction and shot him with a small, concentrated projectile that right went through its chest. His eyes widened at what he saw, as he did the same thing to a certain someone not to long ago.

Flying down to assimilate the rest of the demonic souls, he stopped and gazed at his right hand as soon as he was finished, he didn't move, he didn't blink, he simply stared at his hand. Finally, for what seemed like an eternity, Ranma clenched his hand and looked up, his eyes had gone cold and hard, and his face held none of the innocence he usually had.

"Different… but still the same…" he whispered as he vanished into the darkness.

* * *

Nodoka tussled and turned in her sleep. She did that for much of the night, fearing that something was wrong. With an anxious groan, she sat up from her futon and placed a hand on her tired face. She breathed deeply for a few moments, then got up and walked out of her room. Slowly, she made her way down the corridor and towards Ranma's room. She didn't know why, but she felt that something had happened to her son.

She stood outside her son's room for a few minutes, obviously hesitating on whether to open the door or not. Finally, she let off a heavy sigh as she opened the door slightly, just enough so that she could take a peek at her son. She smiled when she saw that Ranma was sleeping soundly on his futon, as her worries were put to rest, it was just a nightmare after all.

The auburn-haired woman whispered a goodnight as she quietly closed the door but after she did that, 'Ranma' immediately melted into a red liquid before vanishing completely.

Nodoka easily went to sleep after that, but as soon as she did that, a figure stepped out of the darkness and silently glided towards her. Ranma kneeled beside his mother's sleeping form, his eyes still cold and hard. He caressed her cheek with his hand, to which the sleeping Nodoka unconsciously responded with a smile as she mumbled her son's name in her sleep.

Then, without further indecision on his part, the hybrid swiftly placed his other hand just above his mother's chest as he began to pull out her soul using the slow and painful method Lilith taught him. Blue light surrounded him and his mother as he started to forcefully pull out her soul. He snarled as the light intensified, signifying the power he was putting behind the assimilation technique.

However, surprise was evident on his face when he involuntarily winced upon hearing his still sleeping mother frantically gasp for air. He was even more surprised when he suddenly had the urge to stop the assimilation as soon as his mother began twisting and turning on her bed, obviously in a great deal of pain. He shook his head and pressed on, but the more he did that, the more the urge grew. With a frustrated growl, he grudgingly pulled out his hand and stood up, stopping the assimilation.

The demonic hybrid looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes as he stepped right back into the darkness.

* * *

Ranma wandered around aimlessly later that night. He didn't care where his feet took him, as his eyes were fixed on his hands that were in front of him. He didn't notice that he was producing a visible, massive, dark aura that scared the crap out of anyone who saw it, though he somehow managed to hide it moments later.

..........Why?

His thoughts were unfortunately cut rather short when he bumped into someone, but he didn't even bother to see who he bumped into as he kept staring at his hands. The person shouted a couple of profanities as he shoved the pigtailed boy back to which Ranma didn't resist at all. Then, a second person stepped up and punched the hybrid a few times in the face but the pigtailed boy still had his eyes fixed on his hands.

"Hey kid, this place isn't for you. Go back to your mama, lil' boy," the first one sneered, ignoring the slight widening of the pigtailed boy's eyes when he heard the last part.

"Yeah, something bad is likely to happen to you… like this," the second one said as he stepped forward and slashed Ranma's right arm with a small pocket knife but to their extreme shock and surprise, the blood that came out of it was blue.

Majin Ranma stood in place for a few moments as he gazed not at the wound, but at the same hand he was staring at earlier. He then turned towards the two thugs with a crazed, maniacal look, even though his eyes held a noticeable confusion in them. He smiled a manic smile as he chuckled out, "You'll do… you'll do…"

* * *

__

_…In other news, two people were found dead yesterday in a small alleyway in downtown Tokyo. Police reports say that the victims' bodies were… mutilated. The residents in the area say that it could have been a monster, it might as well be true, as both of the victims' hearts were ripped out and as of this time, there were still no signs of it anywhere…_

"Oh dear, a monster attack?" Nodoka gasped out as she watched the news. "Oh my, that's horrible, and that's just a few miles from here too. I hope that they capture it soon…"

Ranma, who had his back turned to his mother as he washed the dishes, smiled a bit. "A monster? That's not good, and you're right mom, I hope they capture the monster before it attacks any more people. I'd do it myself, but you said that I should rest for the time being, right?" He gazed at his reflection from the plate in his hand before looking over his shoulder, "Anyway, did you like the meal I made, mom?"

Nodoka turned and beamed at her son. He volunteered to cook for today because quite frankly she was in no condition to do anything right now. She didn't know why, but she just felt so weak today. "Oh my, yes, that was an excellent cuisine! I have never tasted anything so delicious in my life! I'd bet you'd even beat my friends in a cooking contest. Who taught you to cook like that son? And what was that unique, succulent taste in your dish? I couldn't quite tell what it was…"

"I learned to cook by myself," he paused as he wiped his hands with a towel, "Oh, that. It was just a secret ingredient of mine…" he finished with a soft, mirthful laughter. "I hope you'll let me cook for you every once in awhile mom."

"Oh son, that'd be wonderful! You're such a caring son," she gushed. She had such a wonderful son. He wanted to take care of his mother… that was so manly! He showed that last night when she was having yet another one of those strange nightmares, he was so sweet, singing a beautiful hymn to her so she could go back to sleep.

Ranma grinned, "Thanks mom. Maybe one day, I'll show you just what my secret ingredient is."

Nodoka could only smile at that.

* * *

That night, Ranma flew towards the spot he used to summon demons in order to repeat what he did yesterday. Those demons were powerful alright. A couple more rituals like that and he'd surely recover from his injury, but doing such a ritual every night would certainly take its toll on his body. How did he know that? Well, Itsuki sure did look like he died a hundred times over when he summoned demon after demon for five nights in a row during an incident in a sleepy little town three years ago.

In any case, he had no choice but to summon them since he couldn't find demons in this part of the city, and he was still too weak to travel far. But as fate would have it, he snapped his head up when he sensed a familiar presence from a couple of nights before. "It's back…"

He flapped his wings a few times before flying towards the energy signature at high speed. "I won't loose it again. I will assimilate you this time…" That was his resolve. However, once again, after several minutes of flying towards the source, it still proved to be too fast for him as it winked out of existence.

Luckily for him, he wound up at the same place as last time, a shrine. "So does this mean that it goes here every time it appears?" He walked a few feet and noticed something to his side. It was an old well, a well that reeked of demon aura, and… what? Is this divine ki? If he recalled correctly, his brother said that the ones who can use this had been wiped out years ago. Anyway, the trail stopped right in this well…

"Hello? Is somebody there?" a young female voice called out.

_'…Time to go.'_ Ranma dashed out of the shrine before flying up and back to his mother's house. _'Sooo… I'm a demon summoner and a demon hunter now? I wonder what mister will say about that.'_

* * *

****

**Majin Ranma's Home World**

Speaking of the Devil Hunter…

"God… I can hear that wolf boy now, laughing and saying 'I told you so'… Dante, you stupid SOB…" the Devil Hunter grumbled as he climbed up a very steep mountain. As far as he could tell, he was sent back into the past, WAY back into the past, around the late 1930's maybe, oh and that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that he landed in fucking Germany, right in the middle of a Nazi convention.

Dammit, he refused to kill humans, but what else could he do? He certainly wouldn't just allow them to shoot him to a bloody pulp. So, with great reluctance, he fought back while he made his escape. That was before, but now that he found out the hard way that these Nazis were controlling demons under most of their bases, it was time to kick ass, especially when said demons were possessing human soldiers at an alarming pace.

Now that he thought about it, these demons were eerily similar to those damned Kamui parasites. They force themselves into a host and then they take over their bodies to do as they please… not to mention that they become faster, stronger, and uglier too.

Well, now that he got himself into this mess, might as well do a little history alteration while he was at it, if he hadn't done that already. He did blow up several of their bases already so why not blow up a few more? He flipped up as he reached the top, with him landing on his feet, but a frown immediately made its way to his face when something fast was coming towards him. With lightning speed, he pulled out his favorite guns and quickly pointed it to the figure, making it gasp in surprise.

"Who the hell are you?!" he yelled, looking at the figure in front of him with a very, no, extremely interested eyebrow. Daaaammmnnnn… a tall, busty, leather-clad, redheaded woman, maybe his luck was changing, then again, maybe not. Those long sharp blades attached to the woman's wrists could be trouble.

The redhead sneered and in a blur, she pulled out a gun of her own and pointed it to a mildly impressed Dante, "I should ask you the same thing, who the fuck are you? You don't seem to be one of those Nazi bastards. Did the Brimstone Society sent you here to watch me?"

Dante looked at her oddly before responding, "The Brim-what? What the hell are you talking about lady, or should I say, vampire?" he finished coldly, finally sensing the aura that she hid so well.

"Like I said, I should ask you the same thing, fellow half-breed," the woman replied with a smirk that showed her fangs. Well, she was kinda thirsty, and the demon in front of her was just what the doctor ordered. Not too bad, tall, fairly muscular, a powerful one too, the fact that he seemed to have a thing for leather was also a good thing. "I'll ask again buttercup. Who are you? For that fucking matter, who sent you?"

_'Does this woman like to swear or what?' _he thought with a smirk of his own. Wait… did she just call him buttercup? The hell? Slowly, he brought down his guns and he sighed a little when the redhead did the same. "I'm not with this Brima-whatever-the-hell-you-call-it society alright? I'm just someone who was dumb enough to go into a stupid out of control vortex and in doing so, got sent into this time and place, okay? I know it sounds crazy but it's the whole damn truth!"

Hmm, it was possible, considering she herself had come into contact with a few artifacts that dealt with time travel, but she was so damn thirsty… and he would do for a very hefty snack. The redheaded half-vampire just nodded her head, but inwardly, she was licking her lips. "Okay, let's say I believe some of what you said, can you at least identify yourself?"

"The name's Dante… and you are?"

"…Rayne,"

* * *

Isis ring, the proof of the master of the Aensland family…

Morrigan gazed at the Isis ring she was wearing on her left hand for Hades' knows how many times already. Just why in blazes did she get the urge to wear this infernal thing? Sure, it was amusing seeing her servants faint one after another upon seeing her wear the ring, however, it got boring real fast. If she remembered correctly, she really had no intention of wearing it ever since Berial died but now, she felt that there was a need, no, a desire to wear this, and wear it proudly.

It was the least of her concerns though, as she was having these dreams ever since going back to her castle. One dream mainly was of that girl, that succubus she fought at that dimension. She was trying to tell her something, but she couldn't quite understand her. The next dream was of Berial, something about a secret beneath the castle. Well, she had ordered her servants to search for any hidden rooms and whatnot but they found absolutely nothing. She figured that it was nothing more than a freaky dream, it was always freaky whenever Berial was involved, him and his blasted hobbies.

The last one was the one that really bothered her. It was simply about a young man… smiling widely at her. She somehow felt that it was connected to her first dream, but she didn't know for sure, and it frustrated her to no end. This dream was even worse than her headaches, which by the way, had gone up and disappeared ever since her time in that dimension. She had told Felicia about it and she said that her descriptions matched that of the young man who was forcefully sucked into the middle portal.

That brought another question to mind, namely her desire to go into the portal shortly after recovering from Demitri's attack. If Felicia wasn't there, she didn't know if she could stop herself from going into that portal at that point in time. Smiling slightly, she began to laugh a bit. What was she saying? She could barely even stop herself now. The most interesting part was that she really didn't want to stop herself, no matter what she said to the others.

Well, there was one thing she was sure of… this had been one strange week.

Slowly, she walked towards an open castle window. As she neared it, her eyes had suddenly become distant, as well as the odd gleam in her eyes seemed to have somehow returned.

"I must be out of my mind…" she muttered as she called out her wings, changed into her 'normal' attire, and flew away, towards the direction of Gilala Gila. She wanted answers, and she felt that the young man was the one who had them…

* * *

Botan and Jorge walked down the corridor leading to Enma-Daioh's private chambers, oh yeah… they were dragging a very scared Koenma along with them. When Botan heard that Meikai was active again, she freaked, remembering the time that fateful event happened. The puzzling part about the reemergence of Meikai was that the five shrines were all intact and there were no signs of them being tampered with. Plus the purple energy ball, Meikai's source of power, was back with Enma-Daioh so how was it possible?

Hopefully, Enma-Daioh knew the answer, but he said that he'd only talk when his son returned to Reikai. It took roughly around a week to find Koenma. It took that long because he somehow had gotten word that he was personally being ordered to go back to Reikai by his father, plus almost all the Reikai forces were asked to look for him, so he hid inside a small, secluded temple.

Botan sighed as she continued to drag Koenma. Koenma must've thought that he was being hunted down to be punished for aiding the one with tainted blood, the Majin, Urameshi Yusuke, and for defying his father's orders. The spirit girl looked over her shoulder and tried to suppress a giggle. From the scared look on Koenma's face, her guess seemed to hit home. Oh well, they would know soon enough.

Jorge pushed the large, double doors open and the three hesitantly went inside. Koenma had regained some of his composure as he stood in the middle, looking up to Enma-Daioh with a serious face. His two assistants just stood back and watched the proceedings with a lot of nervousness.

There was uncomfortable silence in the room, until Enma-Daioh finally said, "I know what you three are thinking right now. My answer is simply this: No, it is not Yakumo."

Botan and Jorge gasped.

Koenma sighed inwardly when Enma-Daioh did not talk about his punishment. On the outside though, he was frowning, fully understanding the severity of the situation. "Who is responsible for it then?"

Enma-Daioh sighed loudly, "Simple… the creator of the realm himself. He has somehow been freed from his eternal banishment to the forbidden realm," he paused for a bit, "And I am sure that he will come looking for revenge on the people responsible for his banishment."

By this time, Koenma's body was shaking again. He had seen the archive about the creator of Meikai hundreds of years ago, and he could tell that the guy emitted pure, unadulterated evil. Swallowing hard, he looked up again and hesitantly asked, "…And who exactly are the ones responsible for it?"

"None other than the people of Reikai…"

* * *

Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei arrived at Mukuro and Raizen's new fortress just a few days ago. Well, they did arrive, but everyone ignored them, including Mukuro herself. It wasn't until Hiei practically screamed at her face that she finally noticed that they were there. When the ruler told them the reason why everyone was so busy, the trio immediately understood the situation.

They were at war, not with the soul stealers as previously mentioned in Mukuro's messages, but with thousands of parasitic demons. These parasites first appeared when they were about to retreat from their war with the soul stealers on Gilala Gila. These things popped out from the ground and quickly went inside the bodies of those who died from the war, then, the bodies immediately began to change into these gigantic unstoppable demonic monstrosities. Needless to say, they ran like hell when nothing they did seemed to slow the creatures down.

However, Mukuro and Raizen's armies were caught by surprise when they got back. Upon arriving to their respective lands, the servants guarding Raizen and Mukuro's surrounding land had all been turned into those monstrosities. With the Wargod injured, his comrades and his remaining army of Monks were forced to run away. What happened to Mukuro was pretty much the same.

They built a new place a couple of hundred miles from their former domains, and right at this very moment, they were thinking of ways to actually destroy one of these things, weapons, spells, techniques, whatever, just as long as they could destroy them before they completely take over Makai.

Raizen was severely wounded from his attack on Gilala Gila, but he still refused to eat human flesh to recover his health. Yusuke's visit certainly didn't help the Wargod at all since the teen quickly jumped at him and blasted him several times in his wounded stomach. It took just about all of Raizen's remaining comrades to take down the very angry teen. The hybrid's level of power unexpectedly rose when he saw his ancestor.

Hiei had a little talk with Mukuro and her general, Shigure, in private, which ended up with a dying Hiei. Fortunately, Mukuro had the right equipment to treat the Jaganshi. It only took a few days before he could walk again. Kurama on the other hand, had asked several of Raizen's monks regarding the whereabouts of Yomi. So far, he had come up with nothing. No one knew where he was or what happened to him. Until now…

Both Hiei and Kurama were outside the new fortress when, to their surprise, the former ruler came into view as he limply walked towards them. Yomi was a bloody mess, he was dragging one of his legs as he walked, and he had suffered a very nasty injury that covers half of his face. He looked as if he just came back from hell. Just what in the world happened to him?

"Yomi!" Kurama yelled, rushing towards his old friend while Hiei just followed the redhead with a small frown. Yomi fell into the redhead's hands but it was for only a brief moment.

"Move," Hiei immediately ordered.

Kurama instinctively jumped back when Hiei drove his sword to Yomi's side, causing the former ruler to scream out loud. The redhead watched, wide-eyed, as the Jaganshi twisted his sword before pulling it out. He gasped when he saw that a strange parasitic creature was impaled at the tip. Kurama quickly snapped out of it, kneeled down, and checked Yomi's life signs.

"…He's alive… barely…" Kurama whispered, looking at the wound that Hiei made on Yomi's body, then at the small parasite that the Jaganshi forcefully pulled out. He looked up to Hiei and said, "This is bad, we need to get inside the fortress at once. We have to warn them about this."

"Too late," Hiei said seriously, snarling at the ground. "They're already here."

Kamui heads popped out of the ground, growling at Hiei and Kurama as they pulled themselves out of the ground.

Kurama supported the unconscious Yomi with one arm while he summoned his whip with his other hand, "So these are the things Mukuro was talking about." This was not good, there were roughly around a hundred of them, and he didn't know if they could even kill one of them if what Mukuro said was true.

Hiei smirked and called out his black flame, "…And here I thought I'd be bored by staying here a minute longer…"

* * *

****

**The Other World…**

Majin Ranma hopped inside his room with a sigh, turned around, and gazed outside. He missed it again, and he cursed again when he saw that it was already dawn. Even with all the minor demons that he had assimilated, he was still not fast enough to catch up to it. _'Grr… damn… it'll probably take a few more days for me to get back to full strength with the ritual method, especially since this is a Dark Force wound…'_

He jerked up, eyes wide, when he heard his mother's voice just before the door opened. Fortunately, he had willed his wings inside his body. Unfortunately, he was still wearing his energy-induced clothes when his mother opened the door.

Nodoka asked, "Ranma dear? Oh good, you're already up. I'm sorry about this but I forgot to tell you that I'm going to our family's ancestral grave today. I was wondering if you're feeling well enough to accompany me there…" she paused and blinked several times when she saw the dark clothing her son was wearing, "Son? Those clothes…"

Ranma had an evil look while he still had his back turned to his mother, however it quickly changed to a joyous, innocent one when he turned around and faced Nodoka, "Hmm? What about these clothes mom?"

"…You look so manly!"

Blink. Blink. "I do?" the pigtailed boy asked, dumfounded by her reaction. He blinked even more when he noticed the dreamy expression on Nodoka's face. He coughed slightly as he said, "Erm… uh, anyway, what was that about visiting a grave?" Nodoka didn't move as she simply remained in place with a frozen smile. ".........Hello? Anyone home? Earth to mom?"__

He waved a hand in front of her numerous times but received no response. Sighing, Ranma held out a hand and applied a little bit of reiki to his fingertips before snapping them together, causing a thunderous sound that finally shook the auburn-haired woman out of her stupor.

"Huh? Oh, what is it, my manly son?"

"......Right...... ahem, what was that about a grave?"

Nodoka blinked, "Oh! I said that I'll be going to our ancestral grave today and I was wondering if you could come along with me… that is if you're up to it."

Ranma shrugged, "Sure, no problem. I'm getting tired spending the day inside the house anyway." He'd love to see just what kind of ancestral grave it was, maybe he'll find some clues to what Raizen was hinting at back at Gilala Gila. _'Besides, what's the worse that could happen? After all, we're only visiting a grave, right? It's not like we're going to get into trouble or something…'_

* * *

****

**AN:** Finally have my connection back. I still have an annoying headache that comes and goes but I can write now. At the beginning, Ranma didn't know that he was in an Alternate Universe, he thought that he only wound up in Ningenkai. Canon Nodoka's behavior (All in all, she was just plain nice in this one) shall be cleared up in the next two chapters of the Other World arc.

Oh, the breakfast scene? Well…

Kazbiel, Ophis, Camael, and Daeva were all fallen angels.

Bloodrayne crossover, the **game**, not the so-called 'movie'… don't get me started on that… shudders

Anyhow, the next chapter will be the one where the all too familiar chaos ensues, as Majin Ranma will be introduced to a few NWC members as he and Nodoka visit the Saotome Ancestral Grave. (Nodoka was going to visit this place at Vol. 36 of the manga, so the timeline for this world is just before Nodoka's discovery of Ranko/Ranma being one and the same and of course, the Saffron arc) Heh, yup, Majin Ranma now knows the energy signature of a certain hanyou. Ja!

**Next: Otherworldly Reunion II: Ranma and 'Ranko'**


	11. Otherworldly Reunion II: Ranma and Ranko

_A Ranma ½ / Yu Yu Hakusho / Sakura Wars / Inu Yasha / Darkstalkers / Devil May Cry / Multi-crossover_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ranma ½ and Yu Yu Hakusho or any other anime/game titles for that matter. Though I sometimes wish I was a class-S youkai…heh.

-----

Two figures were standing in front of the Saotome family grave. One was a middle-aged man wearing a worn-out white gi, glasses, and a white cloth that was wrapped around his bald head. The other one was a familiar young man with a pigtail, wearing a red sleeveless Chinese shirt, loose dark blue pants and black Chinese shoes. The young man stood in front of the grave as the bald man talked to him from the side.

"Do you understand, Ranma? It's time to start Operation: Saotome's visit to the grave!" Saotome Genma exclaimed, gesturing to the grave in front of the pigtailed boy. He cleared his throat as he continued, "It's about time we show your ancestors how strong you really are," he paused a bit before nodding to his son, "Now, go on and do it boy."

Saotome Ranma stepped forward and cracked his knuckles, "So… ya sure I ain't getting' cursed or nothin', right? I am goin' to be punchin' a tombstone after all…"

"Boy, that's the tradition of our martial arts family," Genma paused, readjusting his glasses, "All young men must go through the right of passage!" he exclaimed, although he was sweating much more than usual.

The pigtailed boy took a deep breath, placing his hands to his side and clenching them into a fist, "Well then, it ain't my fault if I break it."

Genma took a few steps back as he said, "That's the spirit, boy! Go for it!"

Ranma took a few more deep breaths before drawing his arm back.

"Ha!"

**Wham!**

The moment Ranma punched the tombstone, a large brick just a little below it caught him off-guard as it literally sprang up and struck him right in the face. It was followed by even more bricks before the tombstone itself fell forward and struck him at the back of his head, knocking him down and pinning him to the floor.

"Whoa!" Genma breathed out, astounded by the scene before him. "That was great, ancestors! A perfectly executed counterattack!" he exclaimed with mock respect to the tombstone.

Twitch. "Shut up, old man!" Ranma yelled as he got up and bopped Genma on the head with the tombstone. He then grabbed his father by the shirt as he continued to scream at his face. "What the hell was that all about?! Graves aren't supposed ta hit back!!!"

Instead of replying, Genma tilted his head the moment he heard some rustling to the side, "Hm?" He quickly sucker punched his son that made him fall over the ledge that was just a couple of feet behind the Saotome grave. "Shhh! Someone's coming! We should hide!" he said as he jumped right after his son.

The two held onto the ledge as they took a peek as to who the person was. Genma sweated the moment his wife came into view while Ranma simply stared at his mother for the longest time.

"What on Earth is she doing here?" Genma asked in a whisper, sweating a little more than before.

"It's our family grave, dumbass!" Ranma snapped back.

"What?!" Nodoka gasped out when she caught sight of the Saotome ancestral grave. "Who… who could have done such a thing…" she pondered with a hint of anger in her voice. A few moments later, she shook her head, looked over her shoulder and called out, "Ranma? Can you come over here please?"

Ranma and Genma involuntarily cringed and nearly lost their grip on the ledge when they heard Nodoka call out her son's name. How did she know that they were here?! Did she find out about their curse?! Did she want them to come out and commit… gulp… seppuku?!

"Sure mom!" a familiar voice happily replied.

Ranma and Genma turned and faced each other as they blinked. What the heck? They turned their gaze back to Nodoka and the young man that was running towards her. Upon seeing who the young man was, Genma sputtered as he froze in place while Ranma looked on, wide-eyed, as he stared at the person standing next to his mother.

"That's… me…"

-----

**_Dark Ascension_**

_By Insane Blight_

**Otherworldly Reunion II: Ranma and Ranko**

* * *

Majin Ranma walked towards his mother with a small smile. He was kind of disappointed when he heard that the grave they were going to was the ancestral grave of the Saotomes, Genma's side of the family, meaning it was the grave of dirtbags and the like. Plus add the fact that Genma had no such spiritual potential whatsoever, so this really wasn't the place he wanted to see. On the bright side, at least he now knew for sure that his mother's side of the family held the answers to his questions. He'd just ask her about it later on.

"Son, could you help me with this?" Nodoka asked, pointing towards the scattered bricks and the fallen tombstone.

Majin Ranma looked at his mother and smiled genuinely, "I'd be glad to mom."

Mother and son only took a few moments in fixing up the grave, especially when Majin Ranma used his inhuman speed and strength in doing the job. Nodoka praised her son for his hard work to which the hybrid surprised himself when he actually blushed upon hearing those words. Well, whatever, he was quite glad that he did use his powers, as he immediately sensed the duo hanging on the ledge just in front of him and his mother. He decided to not say or do anything about it for now.

Nodoka and Ranma clasped both hands together as they closed their eyes and prayed at the grave. Nodoka did, but the hybrid had other things in mind. For example, why hadn't those two jumped in and start saying some typical nonsense about him being a fake, imposter, clone, and the like? Surely, they could have easily have done so the moment they saw him, so why hadn't they?

"Ranma?"

"… Huh? Ah… yes? What is it, mom?"

Nodoka beamed at him, "Let's go back to the inn. I'm sure you're feeling tired from the long trip here. Plus, I'm still worried about your wound. I'll clean it as soon as we get there, alright?"

Ranma didn't say anything right away. He stared into his mother's eyes before nodding his head, "Yes, I do feel a little exhausted from the long trip… but I'm more concerned about you mom. You said that you were feeling a bit drained yesterday, and I can tell that you haven't had a goodnight's sleep in awhile."

"Thank you dear, maybe we both should take a breather or two, ne?" the auburn-haired woman giggled.

"Sounds like a plan!"

The two shared a laugh as they turned to leave.

_'Sigh… if they won't show themselves, I might as well do something about it…' _Ranma thought as he placed a hand on Nodoka's shoulder, causing her to stop and look at him, "Mom, we're being watched… it's really nothing to worry about. Here, let me take care of it."

* * *

Ranma watched as the other 'Ranma' helped his mother fix up the ancestral grave. He stayed that way until Genma shook him out of it. "What is it Oyaji?" he asked, still too shocked to do anything.

"Boy, are you really my son?"

The pigtailed boy blink-blinked, then bopped him on the head, "What the hell are ya babblin' 'bout?! I'm the real one! He's the one doin' the impersonatin'! Maybe he came from that stupid mirror from that Mirror Mansion? Or maybe the pervert used another technique while I'm asleep! Or don't tell me that I have a twin brother I don't know 'bout pops!" he finished with a glare. Truth be told, he wanted it to be the latter, as he had just about enough of curses and magical artifacts.

Genma looked at him oddly, "Of course not boy! What ever gave you that idea?"

Ranma swatted him again, "I wouldn't let it pass you, pop! You've kept some things ta me before. Does mom and seppuku ring a bell?! Hmm?! Well?"

Before the Saotome patriarch could reply, they were both distracted by the laughter of both Majin Ranma and Nodoka as they turned to leave. However, their sighs of relief were short-lived when Majin Ranma spoke, "Mom, we're being watched… let me take care of it…"

_'Ah, crap!'_

* * *

Majin Ranma swiveled around, held a hand up, and sent a huge ki blast towards the ledge that, needless to say, completely destroyed it. However, the demonic hybrid frowned when he sensed something odd was going on with the energy signatures of his alternate and this world's Genma Saotome.

**Splash!**

Nodoka and Majin Ranma walked towards what was left of the ledge and leaned forward, the persons they saw were not the ones they were expecting, as a sopping wet panda and a petite, buxom, redheaded girl seemed to have fallen into a small well.

The Saotome matriarch blinked twice before a smile appeared on her face as she clasped her hands together, "Why, if it isn't Ranko and Mr. Panda!" she exclaimed in delight.

Ranko frowned and growled slightly as she saw that Ranma was looking down at her with a raised eyebrow, but her demeanor completely brightened when she looked at the Saotome matriarch, "Gyah! Auntie Saotome!" _'And some jerk pretendin' ta be me!'_

Majin Ranma blinked, then turned to his mother, "Who?"

Nodoka looked at her son with obvious confusion, "Ranma, don't you know Ranko-chan and her pet panda?" seeing her son shake his head, she thought for a moment before realizing something, "Oh! Ranko never did mention ever meeting you. Anyway, son, this is Tendo Ranko, your fiancée's cousin!"

A pair of eyebrows shot up, Ranma and Ranko's to be exact, though Ranma's was the more noticeable of the two.

"…Fiancée?"

"Why yes, your fiancée… Tendo Akane!"

To Ranko's amazement, Ranma didn't act surprised at all. Instead, the pigtailed boy simply smiled at Nodoka as he placed a hand at the back of his head and chuckled out, "Is that so?" Seeing a nod from his mother, he turned towards the pigtailed girl and the redhead could see the amusement in his eyes, "In that case, it is nice to meet you, Tendo Ranko."

"Yeah… whatever…" Ranko muttered, hopping out of the well along with Mr. Panda.

* * *

At the beach, Nabiki dropped the lotion in her hands in shock then gaped at something on her side. It took awhile but she eventually composed herself and offhandedly said, "Whoa… talk about a weird sense of déjà vu."

Akane, Kasumi, and Soun turned to look at her, to which she pointed her finger to her side causing them to follow it. They blinked, rubbed their eyes, stared, and blinked some more. Nodoka was walking towards them with a smile, Mr. Panda was walking right behind her with a nervous look, but the one that made them stare in shock was that Ranma AND Ranko were walking side by side, although a scowl was on the redhead's face as opposed to the beaming smile that was on Ranma's.

"Oh my…"

"A-Auntie Saotome, what a surprise to see you here with…" Akane trailed off, alternating gazes between Ranma and Ranko.

"Ranma-kun," Nabiki finished for her. "So… what brings you to this place Auntie? And you even brought Ranma-kun along with you," she inquired, trying to find out more about this strange event, particularly the Ranma that was standing beside a grumpy Ranko. __

Soun interrupted, "Nabiki, there will be time for that later. Nodoka, why don't you and Ranma-kun join us for awhile?"

The group settled in, with Ranma sitting beside one side of his mother and Ranko on the other side along with a rather happy Mr. Panda. In front of them were Soun and Kasumi, the latter kindly offering tea to the guests. Akane and Nabiki were busy talking to each other as they stayed at a certain side of the beach, away from the rest of the group.

Nodoka pulled out a small, rectangular wooden box and showed it to Soun, "This is what we came here for, the Saotome family treasure."

"Oh? Family treasure?" Soun inquired.

Nodoka nodded, "Yes. For generations now, this treasure has been passed down to each young man born into the Saotome family," she paused and turned to her son, "And now, I would like to pass it onto my son."

Mr. Panda jumped in and held up a sign from behind the Saotome matriarch, -Why don't you give it to me instead? I'll take real good care of it!-

Ranko grabbed the aforementioned panda and threw him into the sand, "Quit it!" then, she knelt down and whispered angrily into the panda's ear, "So that's what you were after back at the grave, huh, Panda-chan? Oyaji, stop this right now! We have other things ta worry 'bout!"

-I'm just a cute panda!-

Before Ranko could bop Mr. Panda on the head, Ranma cleared his throat and said, "I'd be honored to have this family treasure mom, but could you hold onto it for me for the time being?"

Nodoka nodded with a reassuring smile, "Of course dear."

Just then, a man carrying a bucket of water tripped, splashing Ranma with the contents. Soun and Kasumi blinked, Ranko stared at him with a mixture of awe and jealously, while the panda…

Seeing the lack of change in Ranma's part, Mr. Panda raised a paw in the air while pulling out another sign with his other paw saying, -YES!-

* * *

Evening soon came, and everybody sat around the table inside the Tendo's room at the Inn as they ate dinner. Nabiki though, just watched the happenings around her with a curious eyebrow. Akane and Ranko were whispering to each other, Genma-Panda was unusually happy, knowing him, he's probably thinking about some harebrained ideas. Nodoka was idly chatting with Soun, while 'Ranma' was seated beside Kasumi and the two were busy talking about, medicine?

"We're sorry for intruding like this," Nodoka said with a bow.

Soun waved it off, "Think nothing of it! I'm just glad that Akane and Ranma-kun can spend time together!" he exclaimed, ignoring the angry, not to mention loud 'hmph' of the youngest Tendo.

Mr. Panda pulled out a sign, -Yes! Exactly!-

Ranko grabbed Mr. Panda's cheek and whispered through gritted teeth, "What the hell are you saying, you idiot?! I'm the real Ranma, remember?! Didn't you tell Mr. Tendo about it, old man?!"

Genma-panda looked directly into the redhead's eyes before flipping the sign he already had up, -He looks like you, he sounds like you, and best of all he doesn't have a curse of being a weak little girl! He's my son for sure!- He pulled out another sign, -Nodoka has already accepted him! I won't be committing seppuku! And I can finally show myself to No-chan! Heheheheh!-

**WHAM!**

Ranko elbowed Mr. Panda on the head, embedding him to the floor. He should've expected a response like that, the stupid, selfish panda. Weird though, everyone said that this Ranma looked exactly like her male form, couldn't they see those marks on his face? Are they blind or was she the only one who could see them? Even so, it seemed that this guy looked like he had been into quite a fight recently, and she could tell that he didn't seem like a pushover either.

"Anyway, Soun, I know that my husband is your best friend and all but you didn't have to make up lies about Genma, my son already told me what really happened to him," Nodoka finished with a serious look.

Everybody, save Ranma and Nodoka, froze before turning to the downed Mr. Panda, who simply held out a sign saying 'I'm innocent!' as a huge bead of sweat appeared at the back of his head.

Soun gulped, "W-What happened to him?"

"That he died several years ago by gunshots to the body, arms, legs, and finally, the head," Ranma answered nonchalantly. "He was shot to death because they saw him throwing little ol' me into a pit of starving cats."

Ranko flinched.

Nodoka nodded, taking a sip of her tea before glancing at the Tendo patriarch, "See Soun? I now know the truth. Sigh, but what's done is done. To be honest, I never wanted to see Genma again after hearing what he did to my child. That horrid Neko-ken training, lying, stealing, that is not very manly behavior at all."

Mr. Panda growled angrily and held out a sign, -WHAT?! How could you say that?! I'm your husband!!! I did all of those for the sake of the art! THE ART!!!-

**WHAM! WHAM!**

A pair of mallets courtesy of Akane and Ranko flattened Mr. Panda and broke the sign before Nodoka and Ranma could get a chance to read it. Ranko leaned in closer and whispered to the panda's ear, "You heard 'Ranma', panda-chan, you're supposed ta be dead," she finished with a snicker.

Akane also leaned closer and whispered, "Uncle, um, Mr. Panda, please! What's going on anyway Ranm, er, Ranko? You are the real Ranma, right?"

"Yes it's me!" Ranko answered hotly. "I dunno what this guy is, but he just showed up at the Saotome family grave with mom," she paused, glancing at the hybrid for a moment, "Ya know, I woulda jus' called him another Ryu Kumon, but this guy looks exactly like me!" _'Except for the marks you all can't see.'_

A near-broken sign was held up by a shaky paw, -Not to mention he has a lot of power!-

That earned Genma another mallet strike from both girls. Ranko wanted to say something, but she knew that her father was right. This guy had a lot of power, and from the looks of it, he wasn't even trying to hide it from others! Maybe it was because of the injuries she sensed that the guy had that somehow prevented him from masking it, or if you follow Akane's point of view, the guy, er, pervert, was simply showing off.

Speaking of the pervert in question, Ranma was still engrossed in talking to the eldest Tendo girl, seemingly oblivious to the happenings around him.

"Well, I've always did want to take up medicine…" Kasumi said softly.

"A friend of mine is a doctor, and he has taught me a lot about the subject. I could teach you, if you want," Ranma offered with that oh-so-innocent smile, which was quite unnerving to those who saw it because Kasumi gave the pigtailed boy one of her own oh-so-innocent smiles as well.

"I'd love to Ranma-kun! Thank you so much!"

Ranma chuckled, "I like you. You're such a nice person, Kasumi-chan."

Ranko and Soun both choked on their tea while Akane's aura blazed forth like hellfire as she shattered the cup in her hand. Akane twitched a few times before turning to her side and seeing the pigtailed boy and her older sister, who was blushing from all the compliments she was getting. The last straw was when Ranma actually leaned forward and kissed Kasumi on the cheek. That… that… pervert! Pulling out her giant mallet-sama, she stomped forward, hell-bent on bashing the pigtailed boy, "Ranma no baka!"

Ranma's eyes turned cat-like when he looked to his side and swung an arm that destroyed the mallet AND a good portion of the wall behind his fiancée. Everyone, save Nodoka and Kasumi, did a double-take when Ranma meowed as he got up and stared into the shocked eyes of the short-haired girl. He then blinked when he noticed the reactions of the rest.

Nice lady Kasumi was still blushing, oblivious to what had happened so far.

Nodoka was clapping her hands and complimenting his skills. She didn't seem to care one bit about what just went on… that woman was simply downright weird.

The middle Tendo daughter, Nabiki, was looking at him wide-eyed. That was rather surprising considering he first thought she was just like Hagiri in terms of being the cold and distant one, so much for that.

Ranko was… unexpectedly up on her feet and was now in front of Akane while glaring daggers at him, but she was noticeably trembling and muttering words like 'he's not a cat'. That little scene made Ranma smile, the girl had guts, something he hadn't expected considering she was raised by Genma, and it looked like she also went through the Neko-ken training, but she seemed to be afraid of those cute, adorable, furry creatures.

Lastly, the one that caught his attention the most was the Tendo patriarch. Who wouldn't when he was currently in full demon head mode yelling something about attacking his little girl? However, Soun was quickly subdued when he sent one murderous glare towards the man, guess he got his point across.

"Well, seeing that I have most of your attention," he paused, glancing knowingly at his mother, "I apologize, Tendo-san, for my actions but all of you saw that your daughter was the one that started it, I merely fought in self-defense. Now then, my mom and I are a little tired from the trip so if you'll excuse us." He gave one last smile to the group, "I hope to see all of you again under better circumstances, ne, Ranko?"

Ranko jumped slightly then glared at the pigtailed boy, "Yeah, I'll see you later."

* * *

"Hey Akane, are you alright?" Nabiki whispered into her younger sister's ear, her eyes fixed at the retreating figures of Ranma and Nodoka.

Akane broke out of her daze, turned towards her sister, and blinked a couple of times. "Huh? What did you say, Nabiki-oneechan?" she asked, clearly still shocked at what just happened.

Nabiki sighed and decided to drag her little sister to their bedrooms. At least she found out that this Ranma really wasn't anything like Ranko, what happened earlier was proof of that. This one actually fought back against her little sister's mallet-sama. That wasn't the one that bothered her though, what bothered her was that she could tell that 'Ranma' actually had a brain, her recent eye contact, along with the things she had observed at dinner, told her that much.

He was actually very attentive to what was going on around him even when it looked like he was busy talking to Kasumi. There was this one time when he actually looked at her for a second and gave her a wink and an amused smile, letting her know that he was onto her. She didn't know what to feel about it, he was obviously smarter and a lot more cunning than the real one. To her, it seemed that the guy was the exact opposite of the redhead that was about to enter the room.

Ranko walked towards the still dazed Tendo daughter, "Akane? Are ya alright?"

"Huh?"

"I said if yer alright you uncute tomboy!"

**WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!**

Nabiki stood beside the downed redhead girl and watched as Akane stomped out of the room. Shaking her head, she looked back at the redhead and nonchalantly said, "She looks fine to me Saotome."

Ranko groaned, shaking her head and slowly standing up. "Stupid, uncute tomboy, I was really concerned 'bout her for a minute. Grr… who the hell was that guy?! Wait, forget I asked. I don't have any money." Before Nabiki could respond, Ranko slammed her fists together and yelled loudly, "I'll just force it outta him!"

Soun cleared his throat, "No Ranko-kun, you mustn't," he said calmly, catching their undivided attention, "That's no ordinary fighter." Seeing the curious look in their eyes, he coughed and continued, "His eyes… those are not normal… and something tells me that he won't hesitate to harm anyone who gets in his way."

Ranko scowled and clenched her fists, "I saw it too but… I won't let another Ryu Kumon get close to mom… especially not some cheap copycat!"

It was then that Kasumi entered the room and asked one innocent question, "Ranko-chan, where is Mr. Panda?"

* * *

Mr. Panda tiptoed into Nodoka's room and onto the safe located at the far end, even using a stethoscope to open the lock. Inside it was the family treasure, but it didn't stay there for long as Mr. Panda nabbed it while chuckling to himself.

-Heheh, the treasure's mine!-

"And just what are you doing in my mother's room, Panda-chan?"

Mr. Panda's body jerked, he whirled around and saw Majin Ranma, leaning on the open door with his arms crossed and looking at him with a smirk. He sweated but quickly held out a sign saying, -Housekeeping!-

Ranma rolled his eyes and laughed, "Oh really? Then why do you have the Saotome family treasure in your hand?"

-Er, I'm protecting it from burglars!-

"Heh, I think I'm much more suited for the job, Panda-chan. Besides, you have to get ready to get your ass kicked in, oh, five, four, three, two, one… bang!" Ranma snapped his fingers and several red orbs appeared in the room and quickly closed in on the furball. Mr. Panda tried to fight his way out of the room but the more he fought the harder it was to move. A few seconds later, the panda was swallowed up by the orbs as it formed a single, round, blood red ball that imprisoned the poor animal.

By this time, Akane and Ranko came rushing into the room but they stopped in their tracks when they saw the giant ball that was floating in the middle of the room. They glanced at the ball, then at the pigtailed boy who was casually flipping the family treasure in his hand.

"What is that?" Akane asked, pointing at the ball.

Ranko on the other hand, had another question in mind, "Where is that no-good Panda?!"

"Mr. Panda won't be coming back for a few days," he paused as he walked towards the ball and swiftly kicked it out the window, smirking as the ball disappeared into the distance, "Because your kleptomaniac pet will be out of the country for awhile," he finished without the intended humor as his voice had gone cold.

"What did you say?"

Ranma stared coldly into the redhead's eyes, telling her in advance that he was dead serious, "I'm warning you Ranko, next time I see that panda trying to steal something else from mother, you will never see him alive again, that's a promise."

Ranko gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, but fortunately, Akane had a hand on her shoulder, talk about irony. The redhead stared into an eerie pair of blue eyes before turning and walking away. She looked back over her shoulder and silently said, "Tonight, at the beach."

* * *

Later that night, the Tendos and the Saotomes went to bed. All of them were fast asleep, all except for two certain people. Ranko was lying on her bed with a scowl while Majin Ranma had his hands placed behind his head as he stared at the ceiling with a smile. They stayed that way until both of their eyes suddenly narrowed at the same time, as they had only one thing on their mind…

"It's time…" the two whispered simultaneously, getting up on their futon, leaping out the window, and running towards the beach.

They stood there, face to face, one burning with anger, the other filled with amusement. Taking the initiative, Ranko took a couple of steps forward and clenched her fists before snarling, "Who the hell are ya?! I know that ya ain't Saotome Ranma, are ya some crazy copycat or somethin'?! And what're ya doin' with my mom?!"

Majin Ranma smiled, "Your mother, huh? Well that confirms it. I'm not even going to bother asking you in whatever it was that made you turn into a girl, but I will answer your question," he paused, his smirk turning into a considerable frown, "You're wrong about me because, yes, I used to be called Saotome Ranma, but it's just plain Ranma now."

Ranko gritted her teeth, "How could you be me?! We ain't anythin' alike! I ain't nothin' like you… you cheap fake! Yer just someone who looks exactly like me and that's it! What are ya after? The old man's forbidden techniques? What?"

"…Hahaha, my poor, poor, counterpart. Just because I'm also claiming to be Saotome Ranma doesn't necessarily mean that I'm a fraud, a fake, or any of the sort."

The redhead looked at him oddly, "Just what do ya mean?"

The hybrid sighed, he could explain it, but he really doesn't know if his alternate could grasp it. Well, there was only one way to find out, "Do you believe in alternate worlds? I suppose now is the time to do so. I was fighting a powerful demon in my home world when I accidentally got caught up in an erratic portal that somehow sent me to this world, and by sheer luck, mother found me and things went on from there."

Ranko stared at him for a long time, before sighing loudly and dropping her guarded stance, "Well, why didn't you say so? You're from another world huh? You should've just told me that earlier."

Majin Ranma would've facefaulted if he hadn't been in shock, "How could you believe it so easily?"

The redhead shrugged, "Meh, with the way my life has been, other worlds ain't all that surprising," she answered nonchalantly.

"Eheh, heheh, haha… interesting, very interesting indeed… I'm glad that we have that taken cared of, but there is one other thing I'd like to talk to you about." _'And I don't think that you will like it.'_

"Me too, like why do ya have those weird tattoos on yer face?" Ranko asked, gazing curiously at the marks.

Ranma blinked, "You can see it?" He paused for a minute before slapping his head and laughing out, "What am I saying? Of course you could! You have inherited mom's spiritual powers just like I have!"

"What?" Ranko asked dumbly.

Ranma waved it off, "There's time for that later. Right now, I'd like to hear your thoughts about Saotome Genma."

The redhead twitched, "What is there to tell about the stupid panda? He's a big fat old fool that runs at the slightest signs of danger. He's a coward, a thief, and a good for nothin'!"

"…And despite all that you still cling to his every word," Majin Ranma stated matter-of-factly. "I talked to Kasumi-chan about it earlier. She told me all about it, the promises, the fiancées, and all the thieving, among others. It takes a lot to amaze me, and quite frankly, you did. You have somehow managed to survive through it all, but despite all that, despite all the things he has done to you and to others, you are still with him."

Narrowing her eyes, Ranko stepped forward and grabbed Ranma by the shirt, "Just what are ya gettin' at? Sure the old man has done a lot of things, but he's an idiot. I dunno what happened in your world but it ain't the same here."

"…Just as I feared, you turned out to be what I expected since you spent what? Ten years with Genma? Damn, makes me cringe just thinking about it…"

"Will ya stop beating 'round the bush and just tell me what are ya gettin' at?!" she snapped angrily.

The hybrid sighed, freeing himself from the redhead's clutches, time for the girl's wake-up call. "What's the use in telling you? It's not like some uncouth young GIRL like you would understand a word I'm saying. You'd be better off blindly following your daddy's orders. It's quite obvious from the moment I saw you that you can't do anything by yourself. Heh, Ranko, a sad, pitiful little girl who is all talk!"

Ranko ire was building and she knew it. This guy really knew how to push her buttons. "Feh, funny you said that. Yer the one who's all talk! All you ever did so far was insult me and the old man!" She readied herself as she went into an Anything Goes stance, "Come on, I'll show you just how powerful I am!"

"Then show me RANKO! PROVE IT!" Ranma taunted, gesturing for her to make a move.

Ranko screamed in rage and punched Ranma on the face, but even that didn't affect him. Ranma grabbed her outstretched hand and forcefully twisted it, flipping the redhead with it and making her meet the floor face first. The hybrid continued by stomping on the redhead's shoulder with his youki-covered foot as he tugged on her arm, inciting a pain-filled scream from her. "Come on Ranko! Is this the result of your training with that fat fool? If it is, then I'm even more grateful to my brother for taking me in!"

Ranma was caught by surprise when Ranko turned to her side and kicked him on the head. The redhead flipped back up but she was flung all the way back towards some large bushes across the beach when Ranma blasted her with a healthy dose of reiki. Hunching slightly, Ranma wiped some blood from his mouth before slowly gliding towards his opponent.

"Ranma? Ranma, are you here?" a familiar, gentle voice called out, catching the hybrid's immediate attention.

"I'm over here mom!" Ranma yelled.

Nodoka gasped when she saw the bruise on her son's face, "Dear, what happened? Who did this to you?" she asked, taking out a white cloth and wiping the blood off her child.

Ranma smiled, "It's just a thief, mom. Don't worry, I took care of him, he won't be coming back for awhile." His smile widened and he absently rubbed the back of his head when Nodoka praised him for what he did.

Ranko watched the all too familiar scene from the bushes, her hands clenching tightly and tears were slowly forming around her eyes before getting up on her feet and walking away.

* * *

Next day, The Tendos, along with an awfully silent Ranko, left the Inn and went back to the Tendo Dojo. Nabiki had a frown though, and it wasn't because they had to leave the Inn in the morning. No, it was because last night, she saw the fiery redhead burned and wounded when she passed by her room. She figured that Ranko must've fought the one pretending to be him, er, her, but when she asked the redhead herself, she was quite surprised with the answer.

Ranko said that the one staying with her mother was also her, er, him. A little irritated at that, she pressed on and the redhead said that the guy was from another world, and he was sent into this world because of an accident. Well, whether Ranko was making it up or not, the Saotomes left the place early this morning so she couldn't talk to the other Ranma to confirm it. But with the way Ranko said it, she was looking at her in the eye, and she wasn't stuttering, Nabiki might as well believe it.

She might as well do just that, with the way strange things seemed to happen around the pigtailed boy.

Hmm, another Saotome, but this one was not like Ranko or Genma, and from the way the redhead looked right at this moment, that thoughtful though slightly angry look, it seemed that last night was just the beginning of many fights. Of course, she planned on making money off of this situation. A fight between two, real Saotome Ranma should prove to be interesting to anyone that knew the pigtailed boy.

Looking to her side, Nabiki blinked when Akane, Kasumi, Ranko and her father seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. She could guess what was going on in her older sister's mind, which being the kiss the other Ranma gave her yesterday, the heavy blush was a dead giveaway. Her father was, in all likelihood, thinking about the joining of the schools. It wouldn't surprise her to see him try to marry the other Ranma to her or to Kasumi and let Ranko marry Akane.

Anyway, Ranko must still be thinking about his fight with the other Ranma but for the life of her, she couldn't quite tell what was going on in her little sister's mind. She expected Akane to explode right then and there but she hadn't done anything except for the minor pounding she gave Ranko yesterday. Well, come to think of it, she noticed that her little sister's temper seemed to have gone down as of late, especially after her trip to Ryugenzawa a few months back, so maybe that was it.

_'Er, then again, maybe not,'_ Nabiki thought as she watched Akane send Ranko to LEO with one mean, larger than usual, mallet. Shaking her head, Nabiki shrugged at the rest of the group and continued to plan things that involved both pigtailed boys.

* * *

Ranma and Nodoka were walking down the street, happily talking with each other about past experiences, though the topic about Genma was never brought up. Mother and son had beaming smiles on their faces that it was impossible to tell whether they were faking it or not. Either way, things had to come to an end sometime.

The hybrid had other things in mind midway through his talk with his mother, mainly the person he sensed running towards their direction. If this guy didn't come here to ruin the mood, then he'd gladly sacrifice himself in a ritual that would definitely see to it that he suffered for eternity, heh, that didn't sound so bad.

"Saotome Ranma! I shall smite thee!"

Ranma and Nodoka blinked at the sight of a man wielding a bokken, and it seemed that he was rushing towards them. Gently pushing his mother aside, the pigtailed boy turned his head to the side and looked at his attacker with boredom. He causally stepped back, and stuck one foot forward, wincing when the man tripped over said foot, fell down hard, and continued to tumble down the long stairwell behind the hybrid.

Nodoka looked at the man and blinked when she heard him say that it did not hurt before passing out. Shaking her head, she turned back to her son and asked, "Son, do you know that man?"

"Never saw him before in my life," he answered truthfully as he looked down at the unconscious kendoist, "Maybe he's just a lunatic or something, probably escaped from a mental institution."

The Saotome matriarch nodded with a small smile, "Yes, you maybe right."

With that, the two went on their way, only to stop when a familiar pink cat walked in front of them. The cat did a double take when she saw that Ranma was looking at her without the usual fear, but she was really surprised at his other unusual reaction more than anything else.

"Kawaii!" the pigtailed boy squealed in delight, rushing up to the cat and hugging her for all her worth.

Shampoo-neko mewed, blinking several times as Ranma hugged her tighter. Then, her eyes widened before letting out a much more enthused meow as she rubbed her cheek against his, much to both of their delight. She quickly discarded all normal senses and ignored the questions forming on her mind. She didn't care about such details nor did she care about anything anymore, she only cared about what was happening right now, as she was practically in heaven.

Ranma lifted Shampoo-neko up and giggled at her, then, he gave her a kiss on the mouth which, needless to say, made the cat faint with a silly grin on her face.

Turning to his mother, Ranma went to his, joyous, childish, innocent self to which the Saotome matriarch didn't seem to mind, on the outside at least. "Hey mom! Can I keep her? Can I? Can I? Huh? Please? Please? Please?"

"Um, calm down Ranma, er, yes you can keep her, okay?" Nodoka quickly replied, trying to appease her suddenly hyperactive son. Watching the lively boy for what seemed like hours, the Saotome matriarch simply had that calm demeanor, until her lips curved into a small, sad smile.

"Wai! Wai! Wai!"

* * *

Mother, son, and their newfound pet finally arrived back at the Saotome home. Ranma wasted no time in showing Shampoo-neko around the house while Nodoka quietly went upstairs to her room and pretty much stayed there for the rest of the day, not that her son cared or noticed for that matter. Well, said cat was still out of it, for everytime the cat would regain her senses, the pigtailed boy would promptly bombard her with hugs and kisses, sending her to another state of euphoria.

Evening came, and Ranma finally came back to his senses as he prepared dinner, with the help of a certain cat. It was then that he smelled something burning. Expanding his senses for a minute, he quirked an eyebrow when he realized that it was coming from the front yard. Grabbing the pink cat and cuddling her in his arms, Ranma went outside and blinked when he saw that Nodoka was standing in front of a small fire, holding a slightly crumpled piece of paper in her hand.

"Mom, what are you doing?" he asked, with Shampoo-neko letting of a questioning meow herself.

Nodoka visibly shuddered for a brief moment, then she casually threw the piece of paper into the fire, before turning to her son and shaking her head, "It's nothing, just burning garbage dear."

Ranma and Shampoo-neko blinked, before shaking their heads at the same time and smiling widely at the Saotome matriarch. "Anyway, dinner will be ready in a few minutes, mom. I made this one just for you!" Again, there was a subtle tone of mischievousness as he said the last part, but the Saotome matriarch didn't seem to notice. If she did, she didn't show any signs of it.

Dinner was a rather uneventful event, with Ranma too busy talking to and feeding Shampoo-neko while Nodoka kept silent and just watched the two the whole time. When it was time to go to bed, Ranma plopped down and immediately fell into a deep sleep. Shampoo-neko was wide awake though, as she silently jumped outside the window, giving her beloved one last look before disappearing completely.

She just had to tell her great-grandmother about this!

* * *

Majin Ranma grumbled slightly while shaking his head to clear his mind. He actually had a nice nap? How? He never had a nice nap, or a real goodnight's sleep for that matter. Maybe it was because of neko-chan, or maybe it was because of… well, whatever, it wasn't like he cared.

He got up and stretched for a bit, but stopped when he felt a very familiar presence standing in front of the house. Smiling, he opened his window and his smile turned into a smirk when his counterpart, who was now male, was glaring at him from the ground. He chuckled as he popped his head out, "…Finally got tired of cross-dressing?" he asked innocently.

"Grr… get down here!"

The hybrid complied, leaping out of the window and landing a few feet in front of his counterpart. The two seemed to know what the other was thinking when they walked away from the house. They walked for a while until they arrived at a large, empty lot, quite a distance away from Nodoka's house. Taking a few steps forward, the Majin gave Ranma an innocent look as he asked, "Well, what do you want? Coming into my mom's house and ordering me around, that's very rude behavior you know."

Ranma clenched his fists, "I've had enough of yer trap! First of all, SHE'S MY MOTHER NOT YOURS! Secondly, what the heck are ya talkin' 'bout at the beach anyway?! I just don't get it!"

_'Ooohhh, someone's jealous…' _Majin Ranma grinned, "Fine, I'll tell you Baka-Ranma. I can tell from talking to Kasumi back at the Inn and during our first talk that Genma has warped your mind so much with his idiotic spiel that it practically made you his slave, literally and figuratively." Oh, this was absolutely great! He was berating himself! Hahaha! No wonder Raizen always had that annoying smirk when he talked to him in the same manner, this was really fun!

"What the hell does that suppose ta mean?!"

The hybrid slapped his head in frustration, "Oh, figure it out! Or are you really that dumb, Baka-Ranma?!" _'Thank you Oniichan! Thank you for taking care of me or else I might've ended up like this retard in front of me!'_

"Don't you ever shut up?!"

Majin Ranma nimbly dodged Ranma's punches and kicks, jumping over sweeps and ducking down to avoid some of the punches. Interesting, Ranma was actually adapting to his movements in the midst of the fight, it was very evident when the boy managed to hit him on the chest with a palm strike, quickly following it up with a thrust kick then a spin kick with the other leg. Distancing himself by leaping backwards, the Majin chuckled when a thought came to mind. Heh, a battle genius, his counterpart was the same as him, almost.

His alternate did have a lot of noticeable weaknesses. Neko-ken training, Ranma's weakness on cats, didn't know how that happened but the boy was very scared of them. Second was the one Kasumi talked about, Ranma's ego, he didn't want to get into that. Ugh, like he mentioned earlier, a lot of weaknesses, and he planned on using one of them against the boy now.

"Hmm… now that I think of it, might I suggest the term Genma's bitch? I think that suits you more, if you know what I mean…" the hybrid teased some more with a familiar smirk that will irritate the hell out of anyone, himself included.

"Argh!"

Ranma recklessly threw himself forward, causing the Majin's smirk to widen. This was all too easy! The hybrid ducked under the attack, grabbed one of Ranma's arms and twisted as he got behind Genma's son. Wasting no time, the Majin quickly placed his other hand on his counterpart's throat, his sharp, claw-like, fingers threatening to slice it wide open.

"Tsk, tsk, temper, temper," the Majin admonished, his sharp fingers going back and forth on his alternate's throat. He leaned closer and whispered, "I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, but I can't help it, it's in my nature." He grinned as he swiftly slashed Ranma's throat, but he never intended it to be fatal. He slashed it just enough so he could scoop up some blood with his finger. Still holding Ranma, the hybrid stared at his blood-covered finger for a moment before licking some of it in delight, much to the shock of his counterpart.

"As I thought, a full-blooded human…" the hybrid whispered in a sad voice, his eyes becoming distant for a few seconds.

Noticing that the Majin had his guard down, Ranma elbowed his counterpart in the stomach, allowing him to escape from his grasp. He coughed a little and clutched his wounded throat as he jumped back and glared at the hybrid, "You… you sick freak!"

Majin Ranma chuckled, licking the rest of his alternate's blood off his finger, "Why thank you."

"Grr…"

"Sigh, I can clearly see that we will never understand each other, me with my forcefulness in pounding the truth to you and you with your stubbornness and stupidity in your refusal to see the truth, so let's just settle it with our fists shall we, Baka-Ranma?"

"Then shut up and fight! Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Ranma snarled as he punched his counterpart's chest area hundreds of times before punching Majin Ranma's face and stomach with just about the same number of punches. He topped it all off with a Saotome Forbidden Technique, the Mouko Kaimon Ha, which flung the stunned Majin well across the empty lot.

Majin Ranma shakily tried to get up, spitting out red human blood as he did so. A small smile was on his face, as if rejoicing on the fact that his alternate can really walk the walk. His eyes widened as he threw up blood again, not to mention that his Dark Force wound opened up and bled anew as well. _'I… I was sure… I blocked most of his punches… even his last attack… no… it can't be…'_

_'Sorry Oyaji, but he's too damn tough to beat with the Amazon techniques alone,'_ Saotome Ranma thought with a frown as he slowly approached Majin Ranma, his hands glowing light blue. His frown deepened when he heard his opponent chuckle softly, then it became louder and louder as he stood up. "You may be Saotome Ranma in your world, but you ain't and will not be me! It will never happen!"

Majin Ranma lunged forward at unparalleled speed and drove his fingers into his counterpart's stomach, "How would you know? The way I figure it, human or no, you are just one step away from turning into me!" With that, he did an upward slashing motion, similar to what Raizen did to him, causing his alternate to have a wound that was about as large and as deep as his own.

Then, Déjà vu happened. Just like his fight with Raizen, it happened all over again when Ranma countered as he thrust his hand forward, palms flat, and sunk his fingers into Majin Ranma's chest. This time though, a blue light surrounded both fighters for a brief moment. The Majin snarled and kicked Ranma in the chest to throw him back. The two men recovered quickly and distanced themselves, but it was clear that neither one would be able to fight much longer.

Majin Ranma smirked as he gasped for breath, "I'm impressed, you have no training in reiki yet you unconsciously use it in your attacks, making it much more powerful than I ever expected… heh, Nodoka's son indeed." Before Ranma could respond, the hybrid formed an energy ball in front of him and swiftly kicked it to his counterpart's direction.

"Reikou Resshuu Kou Kyuu Dan!"

A Shi Shi Hokodan? No problem. A Happo Dai-Karin? He could handle that. A Kijin Raishu Dan? Painful, but he could take one or two hits. But Majin Ranma's reiki blast weren't any of those, and Ranma damn well knew it. The angled ki blast literally flung him around a hundred feet in the air, and with his body wracked in pain, he could only watch as the Majin leapt after him and blasted him with yet another one.

This time, the pain was too great. He crashed down to the pavement, creating a large crater in doing so. He couldn't move, he couldn't feel anything, he was helpless, and he had a feeling that he would be killed by his bloodsucking counterpart soon enough.

"Don't worry. I have no intention of killing you… yet. I'm simply gonna let you lie there to think about the things that I told you. Ja ne, Ranko-chan," Majin Ranma whispered as he walked away from his counterpart, stomping on Ranma's head while he was at it.

"Kuso…" Ranma cursed as he looked at the hybrid's retreating figure before losing consciousness.

* * *

Majin Ranma limply went back to his room and sat at a corner as he placed a glowing hand over his chest, trying to close the wound Raizen made. "Well, what do you know? He really can fight…" he chuckled out. "Although he seems to have a problem with killing people," he paused and rubbed the spot where his alternate buried his hand earlier, it was not as deep as he thought it would be. "Though I'm sure I can fix that in time."

With the wound closed up temporarily, he called out his wings and flew out of the house. "Finally… I thought I'd never sense any other demon in this world besides the one that kept on disappearing. Let's see… wow, there sure are a lot of them tonight. Hmm, due east, ah, southeast…"

Nodding to himself, he flapped his wings once and then headed towards the group of demons, hoping that they would at least be powerful enough to allow him to recover a lot of his strength. But first, he flew back to the large, empty, scorched lot and smirked when he saw that his counterpart was still knocked out from his attack.

"I wonder what he'd think when he finally kills someone… I can see it clearly… with the life he has, and if it continues, it won't be for long…" he mused as he went on his way.

He knew himself well, too well…

* * *

**Home World**

Back in the past, Rayne stealthily moved past a group of soldiers. She really wasn't in the mood to fight them, as she hadn't fully recovered from the wounds she received with her little skirmish with Dante. Thinking about that demon really renewed her desire to shove her blade up his pompous ass.

The Devil Hunter was extremely pissed when the redhead suddenly embraced him just before she sunk her fangs into his neck. To Dante, it was a very good thing that he already had his guns in his hands, as he quickly shot at Rayne, grazing her on the leg and of course pissing her off because of it.

A day had passed since then, and the two eventually 'agreed' to work with each other. However, it didn't mean that they would tolerate the other if they did something wrong, and that jerk of a Devil Hunter just did something to piss her off. He suddenly disappeared when she was busy in assassinating a Nazi general. No trace, no scent, no nothing.

Well, she really didn't expect him to be a team player, but he could've at least told her that he was leaving. Its not that she cared for him or anything, she was more interested in those guns he carried, especially the one that can be attached on an arm. What did he call it? Oh, right, the Nightmare-Beta.

Anyway, back to the mission, she was making her way up the castle. Her mission was simple enough, get the unholy relic, the Heart of Beliar away from the Supreme Commander of the Nazis, Jurgen Wulf. She herself had one unholy relic, one Eye of Beliar that forcefully attached itself to her eye, but Wulf had several of Beliar's parts already attached to his body, making him more powerful than any human on the face of the Earth. That bastard was also the one who almost killed her five years ago when she and her former partner, Mynce, were on a mission in Louisiana.

Her partner and mentor, Mynce, hmph, that woman was nothing more than a traitorous bitch. Mynce faked her death in their mission in Louisiana. The truth was that she was actually working for Jurgen Wulf, she said so herself when they recently 'talked' face to face. Still, Rayne felt something amiss when she fought her, like why her former partner was holding back and hesitating in her attacks. Oh well, it was too late now, she did threw Mynce off the cliff.

Rayne finally arrived at the top, but there was no sign of Wulf anywhere, just two Nazis who looked alike fighting a group of vampire mutations. Checking her target list, she smiled when one of the pictures matched that of the two Nazis. _'Time to go to work' _with that thought, she entered the room and prepared herself for an inevitable fight.

* * *

"Ah, the doppelganger twins, Simon and Sigmund Krieger, what a pleasant surprise. Such handsome Nazis… and two of them," Rayne moaned, licking her lips and showing her fangs for the twins to see.

The first one, Sigmund Krieger, stepped up and smiled at the redhead woman who had ruined their plans for quite some time, "We had no idea that the troublemaker…"

The second one, Simon Krieger, continued for his brother, "…Would be as beautiful as you are."

Rayne smiled seductively, "And gentlemanly, my luck is turning."

The twins laughed at that, and Rayne, for the heck of it, chuckled along with them. It took awhile, but they eventually managed to compose themselves. Followed closely by his brother, Sigmund took another step forward and asked, "What is your name Fraulein?"

The redhead damphir smiled and shook her head, "Why bother with names, this will be no more than a one night stand," she said, looking at her reflection from one of her blades.

Sigmund was a little crestfallen, bowing his head slightly, "Ah, that is too bad."

"A shame really, we are hoping for…" Simon began, shaking his head in disappointment.

"…Something more of a commitment," Sigmund finished.

Okay, this twin talk was starting to get on her nerves. Frankly, there were only three people who had ticked her off in this mission. One was the white-haired man in red, nuff said, the second one was Jurgen Wulf, Supreme Commander and an inhuman son of a bitch, and the last one was a monster who could multiply in numbers when someone attacked it. The monster called itself Hedrox and the way it repeated itself over and over again was truly irritating. "You know… you two remind me of someone."

"Someone… you're fond of?" Sigmund asked hopefully.

Rayne smiled slightly, "I wouldn't go that far, just someone I killed again, and again, and again, and again…"

"Haha!" Sigmund laughed.

"She speaks of Hedrox," Simon muttered with an amused expression.

It was then that Rayne noticed that the twins were missing an arm. Curiosity taking over, she pointed her blades towards it and nonchalantly asked, "So, you boys lost an arm playing catch?"

"No, we were born conjoined…" Simon began, looking at his brother.

"…But sadly, separated soon after birth," Sigmund finished, looking at his brother as well.

"Well, when I'm done, you'll both be missing more than an arm." Rayne went into her fighting stance as she jumped forward and did a downward slash that was intended to cut the twins in half but the two men simultaneously leapt to their side to avoid the attack.

Simon laughed, pulling out a few knives from the back of his uniform, "Haha, we don't miss an arm…"

Sigmund soon joined his brother in laughter as he pulled out a weapon of his own, "…We miss the connection we once had."

Rayne smirked, standing up slowly and pointing her blades to the both of them, "You boys are too much, now this might hurt a little."

* * *

The twins quickly got behind the two thick pillars that were present in the room, all the while throwing knives at the redhead. Blocking the knives with the flat side of her blades, Rayne rushed in and quickly went for one of the twins, Simon. It proved to be no small feat because whenever she was about to deliver a blow to him, his brother Sigmund would either throw a set of knives to her back that would force her to turn and deflect it, or Sigmund would keep her busy with a barrage of bullets while Simon got inside her defenses. This was also the same case whenever she went for the other twin.

Fortunately, with a lot of persistence, she managed to get Simon out of the pillar he was hiding on and trapped in a secluded part of the room, completely out of Sigmund's view. She swiped at him with both blades, intending on slicing his head off, but Simon ducked and kicked her on her side, making her grimace in pain when a small blade that was attached at the tip of his boot buried itself to her body. Enduring the pain, she swiftly swiped at Simon and then kicked him away from her as she took a second to look at her wound.

That was all the time she had when Simon got up and chuckled at her, much to her shock. She was absolutely sure that she had cut him deep on the arm, and it didn't seem to affect him one bit. Then, Sigmund stood beside her brother and joined in the laughter as well, this time, much to her annoyance.

Sigmund smirked as a deep stab wound mysteriously appeared on his shoulder, "What a wonderful move little girl!"

Rayne took a few steps back in shock, clutching her wound while gazing back and forth between the doppelganger twins, "What the fuck?"

"Oh, look! We surprised her, brother!" Simon chuckled. There were absolutely no signs of any wound on his body, much to the ever growing puzzlement of the redheaded damphir.

"What a becoming look on her face," Sigmund said with a smile.

"Oh, tell her Sigmund. She should know!" Simon exclaimed, grinning widely.

"As with everything else, we share each others pain…" Sigmund began.

"…One of us is unaffected while the other suffers." Simon finished.

Rayne frowned a little then chuckled as she pointed her blade at Sigmund, then at Simon. "So, you punch yourself when you're mad at your brother?" she asked, amused despite the small grimace that was on her face.

Simon laughed, "Ahaha! She's so quick, we should keep her!"

Sigmund nodded, "We really hate to have to hurt you, pretty girl."

"I wouldn't worry about that. I promise that you won't be able to lay a finger on me again," Rayne vowed as she dashed forward and swiped both twins on the chest, drawing blood, and then she flipped towards the skidding Simon and buried her blade to the arm she struck moments ago. Needless to say, Sigmund definitely felt that, letting off a rather amusing girlish scream as blood gushed out of the huge hole that appeared in his arm.

Retracting the blade, Rayne's fangs showed themselves as she viciously kicked Simon's throat, shutting up the rather sissy screams of his brother and sent him on a violent coughing fit instead. Seemingly undaunted by his brother's well-being, Simon snarled and grabbed one of her blades, parried it, and then elbowed her in the chest, or tried to. The redhead used the flat side of her other blade to block the attack but even that wasn't enough to stop the force placed behind the blow. Rolling back, the redhead got on one knee and glared at Simon as she gasped for breath.

Rayne's eyes were threatening to bore a hole through Simon's chest as she glared at him. Yes, she was caught up in the moment, but that didn't mean that she was unaware of what Sigmund was doing. She knew that the other twin was sneaking up behind her, knife probably in hand, and from the rather rapid swirling of his aura, he was about a second or two away from making his move.

She bowed her head slightly and smiled. Goodbye twins, it was nice meeting you two…

* * *

"Naaaarrrghhh!!!" Simon screamed as Rayne spun and impaled his brother Sigmund in the chest with her blade, then, quickly retracted it as she watched the two with cold indifference.

"Simon!" Sigmund shouted, rushing towards his brother, who was slumped in a corner and bleeding profusely from the chest. Checking on his brother for a moment, he slowly got up, turned around, and looked at the redhead with a sad smile. "No need to fight anymore, little girl. You have mortally wounded my brother. I will follow soon…"

Simon gasped out, "She got me."

Sigmund knelt down beside him and shook his head, "No, she got me. I'm sorry brother."

"I can't see… where are you Sigmund?" Simon asked, coughing up some blood.

"I'm here. I'm here with you…" Sigmund told his brother, holding his hand tightly.

"I'm dying… ugh… ahhhh……"

"No!!!" Sigmund screamed to the heavens. He bowed his head as he muttered, "Goodbye Simon." Visibly wincing and coughing up blood seconds after his brother passed away, he looked up at Rayne and smiled, "You… you never told us your name…" he mumbled as he fell lifelessly to the ground.

Rayne merely frowned slightly at the twins before being startled when part of the ceiling suddenly collapsed, revealing a secret room and a set of stairs that she was sure would lead to Hedrox and Jurgen Wulf. Her only problem now was how was she going to get up? It was at least a hundred feet up, even her vampiric abilities won't allow her to jump that high. Just then, as if to answer her question, someone dropped a rope ladder for her to use.

"Now, who could that be? Dante, if it's you, get ready to get your ass kicked," she muttered with a dangerous glint in her eyes. Climbing up the ladder, she leapt up when she reached the top and almost let herself fall back down when she landed in front of a certain someone, "Mynce?!"

"Hello Rayne."

Quickly recovering from shock, Rayne stared at her former partner with a mixture of irritation and boredom, "You know, your whole coming back from the dead act is starting to get old, Mynce."

Mynce smiled a bit before turning serious again, "Rayne, I'm a double agent, ever since that mission in Louisiana."

"You expect me to swallow that?" the redhead snapped.

Mynce nodded, "Yes, I do. Who do you think saved you after Wulf left you for dead in Louisiana? Who do you think led you to the target file in Germany? Who do you think has been your informant this entire time?"

Rayne's eyes widened, then she cursed silently for not noticing it sooner, if she cursed aloud about it, Mynce would surely say some stupid comment about thinking not being her strong point. Her former partner could be one mean bitch at times. Anyway, doubts were still lingering in her mind, but that was mainly because of the ass-kicking she dished out and received when she and Mynce fought each other a little earlier. "I… but…"

"Here," Mynce said calmly, tossing something to the redhead.

"What is…? Officer Name plates…"

"You can check them off your list. Maybe now you'd believe me," Mynce said as she started to walk forward, with Rayne following closely behind.

Taking a moment to look at her list, Rayne frowned a little at first before it curved into a sly smirk. She looked up and asked one simple question, "So, why haven't you killed Wulf yet?"

The double-agent shook her head, "It's not that easy. He is almost invincible with the all relics inside his body. But we can't let him get Beliar's heart. It's the most dangerous piece."

"Hedrox already has it," Rayne said matter-of-factly.

Mynce turned and faced the redhead, "What?"

Rayne shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal, "He doesn't know how to use it though. He's looking for officers to… interrogate." Well, to suck their brains out would be more accurate. That monster had an ability to absorb the knowledge of the persons he targeted, she should know, she almost became its next victim in their last fight.

"I thought the relic was automatic?"

The redhead shrugged again, "I did too, but nothing happened."

Shaking her head, Mynce turned back and continued walking forward, "We need to get that thing away from him and Wulf. The heart could awaken the demon itself, and we can't let that happen… what the hell?!"

A portion of the ceiling suddenly collapsed, and then a red figure fell right in front of the double-agent, startling her even more and causing her to jump back and bump into Rayne. Mynce quickly went into a fighting stance while, to her surprise, her former partner just walked past her and glared at the kneeling figure.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Rayne asked the Devil Hunter.

Shaking his head, Dante stood up and dusted himself as he replied, "Oh, just hanging around."

Mynce raised an eyebrow at the exchange, "Well now, I didn't know you have a new partner."

Rayne quickly got on Mynce's face, "He isn't! I'd rather die than be partnered with him!"

"The feelings damn mutual," Dante muttered, turning his back to the two women. He just had to say that, since he was just thinking about a certain, long-haired blonde before he fell down the ceiling.

"Who are you?" the double-agent asked, but it came out more like a demand.

Dante spun and looked at her, "Dante, a miserable, time traveling Devil Hunter." His brows furrowed slightly when he noticed that the one he was talking to, seemingly ignored his introduction as she was now gaping at him, and then his eyebrow rose up when the woman pointed a shaky finger to his eye. Oh yeah, he almost forgot about that unwanted change in appearance.

"T-That's… Beliar's other eye!" Mynce exclaimed in shock. Seeing Rayne with one of Beliar's eye was a shocker in its own, seeing this half-breed demon with the other was too much to take.

"Huh? Oh this…?" Dante asked, pointing to one of his eyes that now had a red color, "I found this one inside a cave not too far from here. This stupid thing attached itself into my eye and for some damn reason, I can see through anything, even concrete walls when I will myself to," he paused, checking out the two women in front of him, "Well, well, it does have its use after all…"

Rayne quickly caught on, and needless to say, an angry redhead leapt forward and tried to take his head off, "Try that again, pervert, and I'll make sure you won't make it out of here alive."

Dante casually hopped back with a small smirk and did a warding gesture with both hands, "Whoa, easy there babe! You're the one to talk. You're the one who bites into the necks of countless men, not me, you wanton vampire whore. Besides…" he looked her over again before continuing, "…I've seen better."

"As much as I'd like to see this go on," Mynce interrupted, immediately stepping in between Dante and Rayne before the redhead could even retort. "We still have to stop a maniac from obtaining one of the most powerful relics in the world," she stated more to Rayne as she leveled a glare towards her. Seeing that the girl understood the situation, Mynce turned to the Devil Hunter with a small smile, "Now then, Dante was it? I'm only going to ask you one thing, are you going to help us out or not?"

Dante looked her straight in the eye for a few unsettling moments before shrugging, "Sure… why not, but in return, I'd like to talk to you about some of the artifacts that Miss little tramp here told me your little group has, mainly the ones that deals with time travel. Is that proposal acceptable?"

"Fair enough," Mynce quickly answered, trying not to smirk when she sensed that Rayne was getting angrier by the minute, most probably because of the little tramp comment. Not wanting to wait for a reaction, she turned her head to the side and motioned for the redhead to join them, "Come along Rayne, we still have a heart to catch."

Mynce ran ahead of them as she led the way, with Dante and Rayne not too far behind. When she climbed a set of stairs, she was startled when a steel gate suddenly dropped down behind her, separating her from her two partners. She didn't quite know what happened afterward. All she saw was Dante changed into a winged demon and thrust his sword forward, as if attacking someone that seemingly wasn't there.

Jurgen Wulf was fast, him having received a relic that made it possible for him to run at inhuman speed, but Dante was simply faster than the Supreme Commander. Of course that was mainly due to his transformed state that enhanced his speed and strength tenfold but he was faster nonetheless. The Devil Hunter thrust his sword though the steel gate and did a side swipe from right to left that would've surely taken Wulf's head off if he didn't stop his intended surprise attack on Mynce.

To his disappointment, Wulf did notice it, but not before being nicked on the shoulder by the tip of Alastor followed by a small electrical shock that singed part of his uniform. The Supreme Commander backed away, clutched his wounded shoulder, and snarled at the Devil Hunter before dashing out of the room at his usual inhuman speed and muttering the words, "Curse you demon!"

Dante shifted back to his human form and silently cursed, pulling out his sword from the other side of the gate and strapping it on his back.

Mynce backed up against the wall, clutching her chest while trembling slightly and staring wide-eyed at the place where Wulf stood a moment ago. She knew that she would've died had it not have been for Rayne's partner, for Wulf was too fast for her to notice even with her vampiric senses when he came rushing into the room.

By this time, Rayne finally managed to tear the gate down. She quickly went over to her mentor and frantically asked if she was alright, which Mynce put her at ease with a simple, albeit stupefied nod. Her mentor then turned and thanked the hunter for saving her, that pompous ass simply said that he'll collect his reward later. Knowing him, it could mean either way. Well, there was time for that later. Right now, her desire to have Wulf's head at the tip of her blades grew with the stunt he just tried to pull.

* * *

The climb up wasn't so far, but there were a few Nazi soldiers left, a quick introduction with a flying, spinning Alastor took care of that though. When they arrived at the very top room of the castle, a gate suddenly dropped behind them, preventing them from going back. The room was quite simple enough. It was a circular room with a set of stairs to the side that they assumed would lead to the small circular ledge at the very top of the room.

Monsters, Hedrox' copies to be accurate, surrounded the center of the room. Two figures could be seen in the middle, it was none other than Jurgen Wulf and Hedrox, discussing something important, probably the heart. Taking a few steps forward, the trio stood at the side and watched as to where this conversation would lead to.

"Give me the heart, Hedrox," Wulf demanded, taking a short glance at Dante and Rayne.

The monster Hedrox shook its head and growled out, "No! It's mine!" he yelled back. He snapped his head up when he noticed Rayne and Dante. Chuckling softly, he regarded everyone with a fanged smile, "So glad you all are here… you brought Beliar's parts for Hedrox…" he slurred.

"Ugh, God, how I hate that voice…" Rayne grumbled.

Hedrox smiled as he tossed something towards the redhead, "Heheh, here's a present for your collection Rayne."

Grabbing it in the air, the redhead raised an eyebrow at what she saw. It was an Officer Name plate. "Lt. Bogue… I guess he's off my list. Hmm… that just leaves Wulf."

"He guessed the secret for Hedrox," Hedrox chuckled darkly.

"Tasty," One of Hedrox' copies added in delight.

"The secret, the secret is hidden within," Hedrox continued, a black aura was slowly enveloping him, causing Dante, Rayne, Mynce and Wulf to step back as the aura began to grow bigger.

"The secret," another copy added, creating an annoying echo to an already annoying voice.

Wulf cursed, dashing past the trio as he ran upstairs. The so-called big bad guy was running away… not good.

"Ah! Hedrox can feel it! Beliar's black heart… it is powerful!" With that final exclamation, Hedrox was completely swallowed by the dark aura. Pretty soon, Hedrox' copies began to die one by one. A few more seconds and the dark aura dissipated, revealing a red skeletal form of a monster that was at least twenty feet tall, its skeletal fingers were long and sharp, very much like claws, and lastly, the heart could be seen at its exposed skeletal chest, beating slowly and rhythmically.

The monster stomped hard several times before letting off a deafening roar as it gathered power from the center of the room, "There is no more Hedrox! Beliar is born again!"

Dante blinked twice, then whistled, "That's one evil stickman…" He then winced when Rayne nudged him hard on the side as she leveled a glare at him.

Mynce looked at Dante and Rayne before pointing at Beliar, "Without the rest of the parts that Wulf and the two of you possess, the demon is incomplete. He is only in his skeletal form, but his power is still superior to any one of us."

Beliar stood at the center, looked up at Jurgen Wulf, and then regarded the two half-breeds with a growl, "Now… each of you…" he began, pointing towards Wulf, Rayne and Dante, "…has something that belongs to me!"

Rayne smiled, her blades at the ready, "You're gonna have to come and get it."

* * *

Dante swiftly dashed forward and tried to slice Beliar in two but his sword didn't even made a dent into its body. Beliar swung an arm towards the Devil Hunter, to which he barely avoided by hopping a couple of feet back. He glared at the monster as he muttered, "Its armor… just like Despair Embodied…"

"Aim for the heart!" Rayne yelled, readying her guns. Mynce too, also grabbed one of the many discarded guns on the floor and was busy reloading it.

"…The heart? I got it!" Dante yelled back, quickly aiming his youki-charged twin guns at Beliar's black heart, but he couldn't quite aim properly because Jurgen Wulf began shooting at them from the very top floor of the castle. Rayne and Mynce took cover on one of the pillars while Dante had a hard time doing so because Beliar was right on his tail. After a few flips and rolls, he finally managed to take cover on one of the pillars, long enough to shout at the two women, "Go! I'll take care of things down here!"

Rayne nodded, her face held none of the anger she had against him earlier. She and Mynce ran to the stairs leading to the top, intent on making the bastard pay for what he did to the two of them.

Dante didn't have any time to react when Beliar drove one of his long claws right through the pillar and skewered him just a little below his chest, the pain making him drop Alastor to the ground. He screamed as the Demon Lord shook him back and forth in the air, all the while chuckling darkly at the amount of blood he was getting out of the hunter. The son of Sparda was being thrown around like a rag doll, until both of his arms were literally set on fire.

He clasped his hands together and a massive flame burst erupted underneath him and Beliar. He then cupped his hands and a fireball formed afterwards. He lifted his arms up and allowed the fireball fall behind him, blasting Beliar's gigantic claw with the projectile. It was not even dented, but the impact was enough to free him from his impalement as it flung him across the room.

The hunter rolled a few times and then went to one knee as he called for his discarded sword. The moment the sword returned to him, he flipped it up and then threw it to Beliar, more precisely, Beliar's exposed heart. What surprised him was that just as it was about to impale the heart, Beliar was suddenly surrounded with flames of his own, flames that deflected Alastor like it was nothing, then, the Demon Lord suddenly grew taller and larger, making it even more powerful than ever before.

Smiling for whatever reason, Dante leapt up, grabbed his sword in the air, and strapped it back in place. Pulling out his two favorite guns, Ebony and Ivory, he jumped on Beliar's arm and proceeded to hop his way to the heart. Beliar was too engrossed in the power surge provided by his growth that by the time he came to his senses, Dante, in his demon form, was already in front of his now gigantic heart and he was looking at him straight in those hollow eye sockets as he gave him one helluva smirk.

"Jackpot!"

One fully-powered demon blast to the exposed heart was all it took to destroy the Demon Lord. Its body exploded on the spot and its remains vanished into nothing as soon as they hit the floor, all of it except for Beliar's black heart.

* * *

Wulf was a big disappointment the moment Beliar went down. Don't get them wrong, he was an absolute powerhouse, firing at the two vampires with precision accuracy and then attacking them close-up with his inhuman strength and speed that would have killed a normal person a hundred times over. Rayne and Mynce could barely even stand up when he was finished with his first attack, but the distraction provided by the defeated Beliar and the Devil Hunter proved to be invaluable when Wulf turned to look at them for a brief moment.

A second was all Rayne needed when she leapt at him with her last ounce of strength and sliced one of his arms off his shoulder. Further distracted by the pain he was feeling, Jurgen Wulf screamed when Mynce also lunged at him and sliced both of his legs off before, in her rage, slicing another body part down below. The two women finished his miserable existence when they bit into his neck before swiftly slicing the Supreme Commander's head off.

It was flung across the room before falling down and landing right in front of the kneeling Devil Hunter, and needless to say, nothing was left of it when Dante crushed it with his flame-covered gauntlet.

Seeing this, Rayne and Mynce couldn't help but laugh even in their injured state.

"Dante, did you destroy the heart?" Rayne shouted from the top.

Dante was just about to do so. He stood beside it and was about to grab it when it suddenly changed colors, then it slid down and fell into the large grate in the middle. For a moment there, he was about to curse out loud, but he paused for a moment before shrugging to himself. He looked up to Rayne and Mynce and gave them a thumbs up as he stood up and limply walked up the stairs to join them.

Oh well, it was as good as dead anyway.

* * *

At the present, somewhere in Ningenkai, a figure riding a red motorcycle sped past most of the vehicles in the highway. A few minutes later, the figure finally arrived in a small, seemingly deserted city. Deserted because there was not a human in sight, but those that had been here before knew the reason for that. Demons, demons roam the streets at night, and the only ones that prevented them from taking over the city entirely were because of the Devil Hunters.

They were located in one of the city slums, and their place was called 'Devil Never Cry'. Stopping right in front of said place, the rider got off of the motorcycle and slowly took of the helmet to reveal a familiar Devil Hunter, a long-haired blonde that went by the name Trish. Shaking her head for a moment, she placed the helmet on the motorcycle, then casually walked up the stairs and opened the door.

What awaited her inside though, was not the man in red, but a redheaded woman dressed in fairly odd clothing. Not knowing what to expect next, Trish raised a hand up and to the surprise of the redhead, a large sword flew out of nowhere and went to the blonde's hand. She quickly pointed it towards the woman and asked, "Who are you?"

The redhead jerked slightly, absently playing with a coin in her hands as she replied, "Um… oh, you must be Dante's partner, er, Trish, is it?"

Trish's eyebrow shot up, "I asked for your name, red."

The redhead jumped again but quickly answered, "Um, my name is Lucia. Dante came into my village to learn more about his father and his demonic heritage," she trailed off.

Oh boy, the blonde knew where this was going, "Let me guess, something went wrong and an evil demon or whatever appeared that forced him to fight and being the guy that he is, he successfully killed the bad guy and saved the place, island, country, world, whatever from being invaded by demons."

Lucia blinked, "Uh… yes, that's about it."

Trish dropped the sword slightly and sighed, "Typical. So, where is he now?"

"…Hell…"

The blonde's eyes narrowed as she glared at her before pointing the sword to the redhead's face again, "What in the world does that mean?"

Lucia struggled for words to say, that was until she noticed that Trish was beginning to glow brightly. "It's a very long story, and I don't want to bother you with… urk!" she stopped when the blonde pushed the sword a little, hitting her throat just a bit.

"Humor me."

* * *

Back in Makai, Hiei cursed to the nth time. Running, they were running away, damn it all. Kurama called it a strategic retreat, he called it a coward's way out. He didn't understand why they had to run away. He and Mukuro wiped them all out by combining their powers, with her using her barrier to trap them and him using his Ensatsu Koukuryu Ha to turn them into dust. It was then that Mukuro immediately called out for a retreat, surprising him greatly considering they just finished their enemies.

He had heard that those things would regenerate given time but he was a little bit skeptical. Had he seen it happen with his own eyes, yes, he would not complain about the order to retreat but he didn't see it with his eyes so the doubt was still there.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when he noticed that Kurama and Mukuro were busy talking about something, something that seemed to be of utmost importance if the seriousness on their faces were any indication. Slowly, he walked towards them and caught their attention as he growled out, "What's the problem now?"

Mukuro regarded the Jaganshi for a moment before answering, "We have just gotten a report saying that all of the towns and cities in Makai have either been destroyed or taken over, only a number of demons made it out and they are now making their way towards us. Hiei, we have no choice, we have to go to Ningenkai, and I don't care what Reikai says about it. It's the only thing we can do to save the remaining demons left."

Hiei frowned but kept quiet. He was rather busy thinking about a certain family member back in Ningenkai as he absently held the two tear gems he had around his neck.

Kurama stepped up, "I get it. We'll open the gate connecting the two realms and enter Ningenkai, then have the Reikai Special Defense Team to immediately close it to prevent those monsters from coming into the human realm, finally, we deal with Reikai itself."

Mukuro nodded, "Yes, that's the only thing we can do…"

* * *

Kisin sat comfortably on Berial's throne at the disturbingly empty Aensland Castle, his Legendary Sword in hand. "The scourges are finally reunited," he said with an evil grin, eyeing the three figures standing in front of him. The one in the middle was male, while the two figures at the sides were definitely female.

"No, not yet," the tall, multi-armed man in the middle said in an inhuman voice, "One of us is still missing. Where is the bearer of the other Legendary Sword? Where is the other Legendary Devil, Kisin?"

The white-haired demon shook his head, "He won't be coming back anymore for I fear that he has died several years ago," he stated in a calm voice, but the three figures did not miss the anger that was present in it as well. "In any case, I'm glad to finally see all of you again. It has been such a long time."

"Indeed," the long-haired woman that was standing on the right chuckled out. She was wearing a long dark cloak that concealed her body and she was holding a fairly long staff that had a spherical, crystal top. "I thought I'd never get out from being sealed and frozen underneath the sea of ice, Daimakai. I thank you for your work on the seal, nicely done old friend."

Kisin chuckled, but he waved it off.

The man in the middle snorted, "He couldn't have done it without the surprising death of Dohma. You know that, Dark Sorceress Cerridwen," he growled in disdain as he glanced at the dark-cloaked woman.

Cerridwen smiled, "I know, but I wanted to see your reaction Teoyaomqui, oh great creator of Meikai," she mocked as she turned and gave the multi-armed man a disrespectful bow. "Hmph, the only thing I like about you is the fact that you despise Reikai as much as I do," she said with a smirk.

The creator of Meikai smirked back, "Trust me, the feeling is mutual, the feeling is mutual, oh creator of the two great seas of Makai." It was his turn to mock the woman, but to his dismay, she didn't bite, she just gave him a smile that said 'Nice try, but I'm not going to fall for my own trick jackass'.

Kisin quickly interrupted, "Now, now, there will be time to play with each other later. Right now, let's focus on continuing our mission to destroy this wretched demonic realm shall we?" he paused when the third figure, the other demoness that had emerald green hair and was wearing some kind of ancient battle armor, turned her head to the side and stared intently at the large portrait of a certain succubus.

Grinning widely, Kisin chuckled as he said, "Whoa! I didn't know you swung that way, Nemetona!"

Nemetona froze in place, her face showing no emotion. Just then, Berial's throne suddenly exploded, startling the rest of the scourges from the strength of the blast.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," Kisin, in his full demon form, apologized as he hovered above Berial's destroyed throne. He suddenly snapped his head up when he felt something, then a grin made its way to his face as he looked down at the three scourges in front off him and said, "…The three rulers fell for it…"

* * *

Fata-Morgana walked forward, taking a glance at the huge snake demon watching her from the side every now and then. As much as she hated it, she now worked for the scourges, Kisin somehow knew of her weakness with a blessed crystalline gem. She looked down and frowned when the gem that was embedded at the center of her chest flickered slightly. It was clear to her that if she did one wrong move, she'd meet her maker much sooner than she hoped.

Well, might as well make the best of it, since she had one powerful snake guardian to push around. Kisin ordered his guardian to follow her orders, which was quite alright since if she did decide to betray them, the gem would see to it that she died slowly and painfully. That was something she wasn't looking forward to, not yet anyway.

The Sorceress Cerridwen ordered her to capture one very special demon, a demon that knew more than he was willing to tell. "This Youko Kurama… he reminds me of 'him' for some strange reason…" the dark songstress mused as she vanished along with her snake guardian.

* * *

**The Other World**

"Ah! That hit the spot!" Majin Ranma sighed happily as he assimilated the last of the thirteen minor demons that were roaming around certain parts of the city that night. Flying back to where his other self was, he was surprised to see him gone. Either Ranma had faster recovery ability than he did, or someone helped him off the street. Heh, not that it mattered, he was going to find a way to leave this world as soon as he got the info out of Nodoka.

Come to think of it, he really didn't have any plan whatsoever ever since coming here. Not good, he must at least have one, for he might screw up at some point and things could go spiraling down from there. Sighing, he landed on the roof of a fairly large house, folded his wings, and sat down. _'Okay Ranma, think… I know I'm not a super genius like my brother but I have to think of all the possibilities and scenarios for each of the things I do from now on…'_

The pigtailed boy was quite startled when a stray thought came to mind in the form a cute, flat-chested, annoying and irritating succubus. _'Now where did that come from?'_

Now that she came into mind, he wondered what happened to her. Last time he saw her, they were inside Jedah's master chambers, after Lilith tried to ahem do things to him. Oh, that reminded him, the hair that tied his pigtail together changed colors, it changed from bright purple to emerald green. It was still tied firmly, but he felt that it was not as strong as before. _'I wonder what happened to her… is she still in Gilala Gila? Sigh… I want to know what happened to all of them. Mister, Lilith, that nice cat lady, even those cute bees… I have to find a way to get back there…'_

"Okay… first, I'll find out the history of my family in this world… I'd never be able to do it in my world with my hateful mom. After that, I'll fully heal myself with the rituals and then I'll find a way back to my own world."

Having decided on the things he should do, Majin Ranma got up and sighed as he stretched his demonic wings. He was about to fly back to Nodoka's house when something caught his attention. He focused his senses and after a short while, he buried his face in his hand as a tired and frustrated smile slowly creased his face. _'Oh, you have got to be kidding me…'_

"World Shaking!"

"Deep Submerge!"

* * *

**AN:** Mwahahahaha! Dunno, just felt like putting them in there… yup, it felt right to put them face to face with a psychotic, bloodthirsty, soul-stealing, unstable, demonic boy that was currently on the verge of snapping. Nah, actually, Majin Ranma has been a busy little bee the past few days, right? I mean, rituals, dark auras, flying every night, kicking NWC asses, mainly his own ass but y'know, so of course someone was bound to notice him and his demonic powers besides Cologne and Happi. Of course it didn't help that he was in Juuban when he assimilated those demons.

Whew, that was a long chappie. This was supposed to be separated into two to three chapters but I thought that I should combine them for the heck of it, that's why I took so long to update it. The scourges were taken from various mythologies, Celtic, Aztec, Maya, Irish Celtic, Fijian, and Welsh. I did a variation on their abilities and their looks, and did alterations with their histories to suit the story.

**Next: Otherworldly Reunion III: Dreams to Nightmares **


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